


Two Worlds One Soul

by KastaNik



Category: Dragon Ball, Vocaloid
Genre: 2W1S, AU, Alternate Retelling, Androids, Cell Saga, Clones, Corgis, Crossover, Dogs, Dragon Ball Z and Vocaloid, F/F, Grandparents, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Launch comes back, Possibly dark triggers, The Red Ribbon Army, Weakling Hero references, Yuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-02 21:36:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5264501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KastaNik/pseuds/KastaNik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is basically an alternate take on the Android/Cell Saga, where Dr. Gero creates Android 22/IA Rocks from the blood of a girl who's parents were former Red Ribbon Army soldiers, having recently got themselves into a car accident. But a few years later, Android Rocks eventually finds that her predecessor, Aria Aozora (or IA for short), was very much alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the beginning of the story, where we meet Android 22, or Rocks

 

An android girl walked around the dark laboratory that belonged to Dr Gero. 

 

She slipped out of her sleeping pod when no one was around, as Gero went out on a midnight trip somewhere, and was a bit curious about what her creator had to offer. She found dissembled parts lying about, probably used to make new androids, and also notes on the desk.

 

The android look around for a minute until she accidentally tripped over a metal dome. As she fell forward, she landed on her hands, and somersaulted, recovering from the fall. The android girl looked up at the metal dome, which turned out to be a hatch, with a handle for her to pull on.  
  
_What is this?_

 

She stood up onto her feet and began to pull on the metal hatch. Inside the hatch was a ladder. The android girl climbed down the ladder, then slid down halfway.

 

What the android saw next was unfathomable to her. There were more metal limbs scattered everywhere, and more sleeping pods. Her eyes widened when she saw a huge machine with colourful lights flashing before her very being.

 

It was the Super Computer.  
  
_Is this the thing Gero used to create me?_

 

The android explored the area, which was the basement of Gero's laboratory.

 

Suddenly, she stopped at a green light.

 

_What is that?_

 

She walked towards the light, getting brighter and brighter until she stopped once again. 

 

_#17 and #18 mentioned something about a secret project. Is this what you’re trying to hide from us, Doc?_

 

She stared at a machine she never knew existed.  
  
It had a glass case and machinery, surrounding a tiny creature inside.

 

It seemed to be an incubator of some sort for the creature living inside it.

 

_Is this another Android? Well if it is, then why isn’t it made of metal like us?_

 

She reached up to the glass, running her hand down it. She looked down at the control panel and found writing plastered in a case of gold.

 

_Cell…_

 

"22!" The girl leapt into the air in surprise at the sudden shouting. She turned around to find none other than Dr Gero. 

 

_When will you decide to call me Rocks?!_

 

“What are you doing down here? Haven’t I told you that this place is forbidden?” He questioned as he walked towards the girl. She remained silent.

 

"If I ever see you down here again, I will deactivate you. Now get back upstairs and get back to your pod." The girl nodded and followed him back up the ladder 

 

* * *

 

  
The android girl’s human name she had given herself was Rocks, created from the blood of a girl, a singer to be specific, whom the people thought was killed in a car accident along with her parents and twin sister 3 years ago.

 

Rocks was created for the purpose of killing Son Goku, the same objective that was given to the other androids, because of Gero’s personal vendetta against him for destroying the Red Ribbon Army all those years ago.

 

She also had another purpose, in which she has yet to know.

 

The girl she was cloned from was Aria Aozora or IA as friends and family call her. 

 

But unbeknownst to Gero and the other androids, IA was still very much alive.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where we are introduced to the Z-Fighters and Anon and Kanon and their battle against Dr Gero (Android 20) and Android 19!

It had only been a few days since Trunks Briefs arrived from the future timeline. His mission was to warn Son Goku and the Z-Fighters of a great threat coming their way, and that of a heart virus that would end Goku’s life.

 

Trunks is also the son of Bulma Briefs, the daughter of the Capsule Corporation founder, and Vegeta, the former Prince of the Saiyans. This renders the boy a Saiyan-Human hybrid, like his future teacher Gohan, the son of Son Goku.

 

After he left to return to the future, though, trouble already arose in a nearby town. 

 

It was none other than Dr Gero himself, with Android 19 by his side, attacking innocent people, on the search for Earth's hero. 

 

Everyone screamed and ran for their lives as ki shots were shot at them. That was when the Z-Fighters arrived on the scene on a nearby mountain.  
  
On the other side of town, two young girls just around their early adulthood have arrived into town, one with a katana ready, the other standing by her sister’s side.

 

They too also heard the towns' distress call and earlier saw a flying car being shot down in the distance, landing into a nearby lake. 

 

“Well, whenever there’s trouble around, the Z-Fighters are bound to show up.” One of the girls wearing a black sweatshirt predicted as she took out her sword.

 

“Well, they are cool I admit, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to get in their way.” The sister who wore a large white t-shirt warned when she decided to look around.

 

As they continued to walk down the streets of the city, they saw that a propane truck was driving out of control, as the driver was killed by the androids. "Kanon! Jump!" the short haired girl cried out when grabbed her sister by the waist and ran towards the truck, leapt onto it, and jumped off. 

 

As they did that, they did a front flip and landed on their feet as the truck behind them drove into a gas station, and exploded. 

  
“Holy crap Anon!” Kanon shouted as she looked back at the flames. “Don’t you see how much of a threat these people pose?” Anon questioned. “No way, that guy must’ve been wasted. Besides, how do you know how much of a threat these bastards pose if we haven’t even seen them yet?” Kanon scoffed as she waved her hand back and forth.

 

Anon rolled her eyes in annoyance, "If that man was drunk off his butt, then why was there blood coming out of the side of his head?" Kanon looked up at her twin sister and shrugged, "Maybe he hit his head on the steering wheel?"

 

Just then, a pair of odd looking people flew down from the sky and onto the street below, just a few feet away from the twins. One had long white hair with a hat, the other had porcelain white skin. Thankfully they landed in the opposite direction away from the girls. 

 

"Quick, make yourself scarce!" Anon whispered as she grabbed Kanon by her arm and quickly bolted to a nearby alley. "Let me at ‘em!" Kanon pulled herself away from Anon. "Stop being so reckless! We either need to come up with a plan, or wait for the Z-Fighters to find them." "Well, what good would those suggestions do? Honestly, those guys look like those wimps we can steal lunch money from." Kanon smiled deviously when she crossed her arms when Anon shook her head in disappointment. 

  
Unbeknownst to Kanon, the androids overheard the sisters’ conversation and quietly walked over to the alleyway.

 

"So what if you think they look dangerous and suspicious, we can beat ‘em ourselves. Two on Two, it's a fair fight." Anon peeked behind Kanon to find the two androids they were trying to hide from right behind her twin sister and gasped in surprise. 

 

"That depends on if the opponent has enough fighting experience or has the advantage over them." Kanon then lifted a finger to correct him when her eyes widened, as a wave of realisation hit her.

 

"Speak again…" She commanded, her tone of voice lowering in suspicion. 

 

Gero only laughed in amusement.

 

She turned around to find the androids in front of her and took out her sword. But before she can fight them, Gero shot a ki blast near their feet, then blew them out of the alley and into the next street behind them.

 

As they sat up, Kanon looked over to her sister, then back at the androids, who were just flying out of the alley. She got herself up and pointed her sword at the androids. “Anon, get back!”  
  
“Now, I think you said something about us being wimps and taking our lunch money. Wouldn’t that make you one of those stereotypical middle school bullies?” Gero interrogated as he landed on the ground before them.

 

"Ixnay on the Upidstay…" Kanon muttered under her breath when they heard 19 land on the ground and approach them. “Upidstay means Stupid in Pig Latin, are you implying that we are stupid?”

 

Kanon shot up and smirked, “Huh? Oh no, we thought you guys were the smartest people in the world. What the hell do you think we mean?!”  
  
“Whether or not that was sarcasm you were implying just now, I was a scientist for the Red Ribbon Army, I have been creating Androids for years. That’s how I got the job in the first place!” The doctor replied in an angry tone in his voice.

 

“Pffft...probably lost your job 'cuz of your anger issues.” Kanon countered when she rolled her eyes.

 

Gero gave her a cold stare in reply. "We're done talking! We're looking for Son Goku and you two are merely in the way. 19, you have my permission to kill them on the spot!" he commanded when the android rose his arm, aiming at the girls. Anon held onto her sister's arm tightly, bracing for impact.

 

"Hey!" a lone young male voice was heard, grabbing the four's attention. 

 

It was Yamcha, one of the members of the Z-Fighters.

 

Kanon’s eyes widened.

 

_Anon, get me an ambulance, 'cuz that guy looks hot!_

 

Yamcha flew down to the ground and shouted, “Leave those two girls alone!” The androids turned to look at him. “19, scan him!” Gero ordered when 19’s eyes turned slightly red, scanning the fighter.

 

“He is 96% Son Goku.” 19 reported. The girls glanced at each other, then back at the three. “That’s Son Goku? I thought he’d have spikier hair and no battle scars.” Anon whispered.

 

"Don't know ‘bout you, but think he's kinda cute," Kanon added. Anon looked at her with disbelief, "Oh my god, here we go…" "What? I'm not Son Goku. I'm…" Before Yamcha can explain himself, Gero snatched him by his mouth. 

 

The twins gasped in fear and ran towards them. Unfortunately for them, 19 blocked their path. 

 

Gero then impaled the man with his own hand, through his chest. Kanon covered her mouth, preventing herself from gagging.

 

"I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of nightmares tonight," Anon told herself when she covered her face with both of her hands. Kanon couldn't believe what she was seeing. 

 

An android, whom she called a wimp, just stuck a hand through a man’s chest. Anon was right, she had to be careful around these robotic monsters.  
  
Just then, Goku and the other Z-Fighters arrived onto the scene.

 

Goku’s eyes widened at the horrid sight before him. “Ya…Yamcha?!” he shouted when Gero threw the impaled Z-Fighter towards the group.

 

_Oh, so 19 got the wrong person. Ha! This just proved my point that Gero isn’t the smartest person in the world._

 

Kanon laughed mentally, smiling sheepishly at her victory.

 

“Ah, so you’re Son Goku. My apologies for our unfortunate miscalculation. As you see before you that is only the hint of our power.” The doctor laughed when Goku motioned for one of his friends, Krillin, to get Yamcha and bring him back to Bulma, away from danger.

 

“You, why would you do this to innocent people?!”

 

“Don’t you remember the Red Ribbon Army? You should remember what you did to us years ago?”

 

Goku stopped himself and nodded. It was years ago when he and his friends (including the assistance of Android 8) battled the Red Ribbon Army, who were after the mystical Dragon Balls to wish for world domination. He was only a little boy back then, but also a magnificent fighter as he was now. 

 

"Now we have come back to kill you, for revenge. With our powers and techniques, none of you stands a chance against us." That was when the hero grinned, "Is that so? We'll see what you got." Goku challenged, cracking his knuckles. 

 

Gero chuckled at the Saiyan’s determination, “Well, as you wish.” He rose his right arm, aiming at a building, and shot at it, causing it to explode.

 

This made the warriors and the twins cringe in fear. “Um…can we take this somewhere else where there are no people around?” Goku requested when he laughed nervously.

 

Anon and Kanon glanced at each other in utter confusion.

 

“Fine, I know a clear place to fight. Come with me!” Gero ordered as he and 19 lifted into the air as the Z-Fighters followed them.

 

_Damn these people and their non-visible wings…_

 

“Where do you think they’re going?” Anon questioned as she cupped her hand over her eyes, blocking out the sun.

 

Kanon turned with a smirk on her face, “Wanna find out?” Anon gasped in surprise. Just as she was about to grab her twin and lecture her, Kanon ran to the direction the Androids and the Z-Fighters flew off to.

 

“Hmm…Kanon…” Anon groaned in a bit of anger when she ran after her.  
  
A few miles later, the group landed in an area surrounded by a bunch of plateaus and mountains.

 

"I guess I might have to warn you, Son Goku. We have watched all of your battles through our spy bots. From the recent World Martial Arts Tournament to your scuffles with Vegeta." 

 

A chuckle came out of Goku. “What is so funny?” 19 asked as he looked up at the Saiyan warrior in confusion. “It’s cool that you saw my moves and techniques. But let me ask you one thing. Have you seen my battles on Planet Namek?”

 

Gero scoffed, "We have everything we needed from you, sending my spy bots to Namek is only a waste of time." That was when the other Z-Fighters smirked in determination. "Well, then I guess you two are in for a surprise," Goku added. Meanwhile, the twins had caught up to the Z-Fighters, and hid behind a nearby boulder to watch the battle from afar.

 

Suddenly, they heard Goku screaming at the top of his lungs letting out a war cry. They covered their eyes as a flash of light covered the field for the moment. When they looked back up, they saw that Goku had gained blonde hair and a bright yellow raging aura around him. 

 

“Kanon, look! His hair turned blonde.” Anon whispered as she pointed at the hero standing before the Androids. Kanon nodded, “Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it.”  
  
Anon and Kanon had heard of Saiyans before, as one killed their master back when Raditz, then Vegeta and Nappa invaded Planet Earth. But they never have heard, let alone seen, a Super Saiyan before, in which they were fascinated by.

 

All they had to do is watch and stay out of sight of both the Z-Fighters and the Androids.  
  
“So you powered up a bit. Still, I can beat you, and I know that 19 can take you with his eyes closed.” Gero challenged as 19 stepped forward to fight the Saiyan.

 

"Hmph…who does he think he is? Goku has beaten Vegeta before, and he just as cocky as them. Why do they think they're so different?" Tien, a three-eyed human, questioned angrily as he crossed his arms. 

 

“Well, they are androids after all. Who knows what they have in store.” Piccolo, a Namekian, added.

 

“C’mon Goku, you can beat that tin can.” Kanon cheered on the Saiyan quietly.

 

19 charged at Goku, and thus began the fight between them. Gero flew out of the way, and let 19 have his fight.  
  
Punches and kicks were thrown at each other, and instead of getting progressively stronger as a regular Saiyan should have, Goku was getting weaker.

 

His last option left was his Kamehameha wave.

 

19 gave a smirk while Goku recited the words of the ki attack, meaning that the android wasn’t at all afraid of what was going to happen.

 

As the Saiyan fired his attack at the android below, the latter rose his hand to the sky and absorbed the wave with it. “What the…” Goku muttered in surprise. “See, I told you that you couldn’t beat us.” Gero taunted.

  
“Goku!” a lone voice was heard in the distance behind the Z-Fighters. It was Yamcha, with Krillin flying beside him, carrying a small bag with Senzu beans inside.

 

“You have to be careful around those Androids! While one of them was holding me, I felt some of my energy draining!” He warned as he and Krillin flew down to the others.

 

Anon looked over to Yamcha and rose her eyebrows in wonder, “How did he heal so fast?” “Never mind about that! When the hell are we gonna come into the fight?!” Kanon interrupted.

 

Anon rolled her eyes and continued to watch the battle when witnessed Goku breathing heavily, heavier than he should be. 

 

"Kanon, something's wrong with Goku. Look at him, he's holding onto his chest. Doesn't that say something?" "What are you saying, sis? He hasn't taken in that much damage. How could he be in trouble?" 

 

Just then, Goku fell onto his knees, clutching his chest. "Goku!" Krillin shouted in fear. "It's his heart! Get help!" Gohan told. "No! The heart virus! Did he drink the medicine Trunks gave him?" Piccolo turned to Tien and Yamcha. 

 

They both shrugged.

 

He grunted in anger. “That idiot!”  
  
19 charged at Goku at full speed and gave him a punch to the stomach, sending him flying across the field.

 

At that moment, as he lied onto the ground, his bright golden hair returned to an ebony black. “He just knocked the Super Saiyan right out of him!” Krillin commented, staring wide-eyed at the fight.

 

Kanon took a deep breath, feeling the adrenaline and anger within her run wild, and then ran out of her hiding place.

 

Anon looked up to find her sister missing, and looked behind the boulder to find her running off. "Kanon! Where are you going?! KANON!!!" Kanon ran into the battlefield, just as 19 was about to take a leap and pounce on the weakened Goku.

 

She leapt over the Saiyan and kicked the Android directly in the face, keeping him away from him. 

 

The Z-Fighters were baffled at the scene below. Gero was livid as he took a sight of the twins. 

 

_Them again?! What do they want?!_

 

Anon ran down a hill and saw Goku. “Oh my god…oh…um…I’ll get you away from here.” She said as she wrapped her arms under Goku’s arms and dragged him away from the scuffle. “Help! Help!” she shouted.

 

"Wait a minute, those are the girls I was going to save earlier," Yamcha remembered. "Look, one of them has a katana like Yajirobe!" Krillin sighted the sword on Kanon's back. "Do they have enough strength to push the Androids back?" Kanon drew out her sword and pointed it at 19. "I hope you like the taste of steel against metal!" Kanon shouted as she ran at the android, who rose his fists to fight. 

 

Just as she was about to slice him, she felt as if a hard rock had hit her in the side, knocking her out of the way.

 

“Kanon!” Anon shouted when she darted after her sister. Kanon crashed frontwards onto the grass, and then spit out the dirt from her mouth when she looked up whoever kicked her.

 

It was none other than Prince Vegeta, in which Kanon felt so much hatred for.

 

"Stay out of the way, human. I will take victory over the defeat of Kakarot, and none of you will get in my way." Kanon picked herself off of the ground, and ran at the Saiyan prince in a fit of anger, but was stopped by Anon, who grabbed her arm and pulling her away. 

 

“Stop trying to stop me! That Saiyan killed our master! He killed innocent people and he’s gonna kill some Kakarot guy!”

 

"Kanon, please! You're making a scene! We have to get out of here." Anon told her as she dragged her twin away from the battlefield. Vegeta turned to 19. "Now, I will make things perfectly clear to you, mechanical scum. I've seen you fight from afar, and I must say. You aren't the greatest fighters I heard you were." Vegeta taunted the Android in question when he rose his fists.

 

“You are forgetting something. We also watched you in battle with Son Goku. Therefore, we have committed your moves to memory.” Vegeta frowned at 19’s statement.

 

“Oh really? Then why were you so surprised when Kakarot turned into a Super Saiyan? Hmm?” 19’s eyes widened. “I’ve been wondering. Can a bucket of bolts like you feel fear?”  
  
Just then, the Saiyan prince let out a loud cry, a war cry, as the same aura that surrounded Goku appeared around him. Then, his dark hair turned to a bright blonde. The twins, the Z-Fighters, and the Androids watched him transform, flabbergasted.  
  
“Wha?! How is this even possible?! I thought that to become a Super Saiyan, you need to be pure of heart!” Krillin remembered.

 

"Pure of heart? No…Pure of rage is more like it." Vegeta joked.

 

"I put myself through the most gruesome training. I learned of my limits, and my self-hatred of realisation of never being able to surpass Kakarot triggered my power. So, any more questions?" There was a short pause between him and the people. It was 19 that shot the first punch, attacking the Saiyan full on. 

 

Gero was beginning to worry, as the Saiyan was putting more effort into his fighting than Goku did, and 19 was giving him everything he’s got.

 

Yamcha flew over to the fallen hero and stood by his side. “I’ll bring you to Chichi. She won’t be too glad to see you in this state.” He told. Yamcha then looked up at the twins. “Thank you so much for saving him. Who knows what could’ve happened if the Android got him here and then?”

 

“Someone had to save him. We couldn’t just stand around and leave a sick man defenceless.” Kanon replied as she stood up onto her feet. Yamcha gave them a nod before grabbing the Saiyan and placing him over his shoulder.

 

He flew off, carrying Goku away from the battlefield. Vegeta gave the Android a kick in the stomach, knocking him to the ground, knocking his hat off and revealing his artificial brain.

 

"Ugh…to be honest, it's kinda disturbing to look at," Kanon admitted as she stared at the android with wide, emerald eyes. "At least it's not a human brain we're looking at," Anon reassured. 

 

19 got back up, but then the Saiyan prince gave him another kick, launching him into the air. 19 recovered from the assault, and Vegeta appeared in front of him and punched him in the face. The android shook his head and grunted in anger as blood dripped from his nose and mouth.

 

"Well, would you look at that? It seems that you have an oil leak." Vegeta taunted when 19 shot a beam from his eyes. The former dodged the attack by teleporting above the android and knocked him to the ground. 

 

“Look out!” Krillin shouted when the Z-Fighters and the twins ran away from the area before 19 hit the ground, creating a hole.

 

The wind blew through Gero, watching in alert.

 

Vegeta landed inside the hole in front of the android. Just then, 19 got up and grabbed Vegeta’s wrists, trapping him.  
  
He laughed manically.

 

“I have you now, Vegeta. I will never let you go until every last drop of your energy completely drained.” The latter chuckled. “Is that so? I’ll play along then.” Vegeta lifted his legs and pushed his feet against 19’s face.

 

19 thought that he finally got Vegeta in his clutches, and now has a Super Saiyan pushing against his face, but still, he won’t budge.

 

“Well, so you do absorb energy through your hands. Fine, keep focusing on your grip! DON’T LET GO!!!” Vegeta pushed against the android’s face to the point of pulling his hands off completely.

 

“Whoa…” Gohan stared at Vegeta in awe.

 

_First the brain, and now his hands. What’s next, you’re gonna behead him or something?_  
  
Blood rushed out of 19’s cords.

 

“No…” Gero said silently.

 

Without his hands to absorb energy with, 19 was helpless. He was panicking, he didn’t know what to do. Vegeta looked up at 19 and smirked.

 

“Ah, so you do feel fear. I hate to be blunt with you, but you did this to yourself. You would have never lost your hands if you haven’t held onto me so tightly.” He interrogated as the android in front of him stared at him stared at him with wide eyes.

 

"Hmm…I'm in a rather good mood today. So I'll give you a 5-second head start for you to escape." Wasting no time, 19 turned around to climb out of the hole they were in and made a run for it. 

 

“19, where are you going?! He’s just a Saiyan! Stop!” Gero shouted when he turned to the Saiyan prince floating out of the ground. “Wait your turn old man. Once I go through to him, you’re next!” Vegeta demanded as Gero kept quiet.

 

He then laughed, as 19 didn’t get very far to run away. “Now feel the wrath…of my Big Bang Attack!!!” Vegeta shot the blast at the unsuspecting android, creating a massive explosion that blinded the Z-Fighters, and the twins.

 

All that was left of Android 19 was his head, his facial expression in a dead-like state. The Z-Fighters turned to where Gero stood, only to find him missing. 

 

“Ugh…that coward!” Vegeta shouted in anger.

 

"We'll worry about him later. Right now, we need to know who they are." Piccolo told as he turned to Anon and Kanon. "Yeah, one of them saved my dad from the android." Gohan reminded as he and the others looked over at the twins. 

 

“Anon, why are they staring at us like they wanna kill us?” Kanon whispered to her sister. “They probably don’t want us here and we got in their way.”  
  
Piccolo, Tien, Krillin, and Gohan walked over to them.

 

“Oh…um…hello…” Anon waved nervously, thinking that she and Kanon may be in serious trouble for getting in their way when they weren’t supposed to.

 

“You two, explain yourselves! Who are you, and why are you here?” Piccolo interrogated as he crossed his arms, intimidating the girls.

 

“I’m…no… _we’re_ sorry, we got in the way...and the mess that we caused. I'm Anon Anzu, this is my twin sister Kanon. I was trying to stop her from hurting herself. But hey, look at the time. It's best that we head on home, right Kanon?" Anon told as she dragged her sister behind her, attempting to leave. 

 

Gohan ran after them, “Wait a minute, don’t go yet! I want to thank you for saving my dad like you did!” This made them stop in their tracks. Kanon pulled away from Anon, “Um…no problem…” Kanon smiled at the boy as she scratched the back of her head.  
  
Vegeta scoffed at the sight below him.

 

He did destroy 19 after all, so why must they give praise to the girls?

 

_Why must that little twerp get all the credit? All she did was kick the bucket of bolts in the face!_

 

Kanon felt the same way towards Vegeta, he stole what could’ve been her victory by kicking her out of the way.

 

“Hey, what’s that sword you’re carrying?” Tien questioned as he pointed at the sword on Kanon’s back. She took out her katana and presented it to the Z-Fighters. “Hey, not bad. Our friend Yajirobe has a sword like yours.” Krillin told them as he saw his reflection on the blade. “It looks so cool!” Gohan complimented as he felt the blade, and then stepped back.

 

"Our Dad gave it to me for our 14th birthday, just before he and Mom disappeared. I use it when the fight gets really tough, but both of us were trained under our old master to use Martial Arts as our primary use of fighting. By the way, he told us about you and let's just say, that both of us are your biggest fans." Kanon told her and Anon's story as when she place the sword back into its sheath.

 

"So you two say you're experienced fighters, huh? I don't enjoy getting strangers involved in our fight, but you were brave enough to stand up to those Androids. Not to mention I sense some power within you two that will awaken if you train harder. Right now, we need all the assistance we can get, thanks to Goku and his heart virus." The Namekian told. 

 

"You really want our help?" Kanon looked up at him when she felt her sister pull her away from him. "Kanon, you do realise by joining the Z-Fighters, we're going to see more people dying, and at a more gruesome state than what that Android went through, right?" Anon warned when Kanon pulled her arm away from her. "Dude, no need to be so clingy. They're the Guardians of the Earth for crying out loud. What could go wrong?" the latter said as she walked up to Piccolo. 

 

“We’ll join ya! It’s about time we got some excitement in our lives, and we won’t hesitate to take on some tough challenges.”

 

“Good! I think the other Android escaped to where the mountains are.” Tien said as the group began to walk. Kanon turned around to sight her sister and put a two thumbs up.

 

_If we ever get out of this alive, I will kick your ass until the morrow._ Anon doubted as she began to follow her sister and the Z-Fighters.

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here, we are introduced to IA, the survivor of a car accident, and her family as they go about their lives in Gingertown!

Ever since her parents and sister One were killed in the car accident 3 years ago, Aria Aozora had lived with her grandparents in the quiet Gingertown, who shared a house with her mother's best friend, Kiyoteru Himaya and Yuki.

 

Her parents have had a dark history, as they were former members of the Red Ribbon Army, known for their evil crimes inflicted upon the world. But a few years after they gave birth to IA and One, they began to resent the army and their cruel, harsh ways, and left them for good, and even helped Son Goku take them down. But for all of her life, she was bullied, and often times she was beaten up, just because of her parents' history, and their fear that she'll hurt them like the Red Ribbon Army hurt their parents. 

 

As she grew older, IA had been taking vocal classes, and eventually became a well-known singer, in hopes of covering up her parents’ bad blood.

 

She was loved by all who she shared her lovely voice with, but her happiness did not last forever.

 

That was when the car accident had happened. No one knew what had caused the accident, or who survived it. But IA was the only survivor, as luck had saved her life that night.

 

She didn't remember much of what had gone on, but all she knew that after these horrid events, her body never felt physical pain again.

* * *

 

In the present day, as the light blonde girl walked down the calm and relaxing streets of the small town to pick up Yuki from school, a trio of tough looking men in street clothing followed her, wanting to cause trouble.

 

By the sound of their footsteps, IA knew these men were behind her but decided to ignore them to avoid getting into an unnecessary fight. 

 

Just then, one of them decided to throw a rock at the back of her head, making her stop dead in her tracks. She took a deep breath in a bit of anger and turned her head slightly to her right.

 

“A simple “hello” would’ve been nice, but you got my attention anyway. So, is there anything you need from me, gentlemen?” she questioned.

 

The trio laughed in amusement. IA turned around to face the men and study them.

The leader of the trio was short and wore a beanie hat.

 

_Shorty._

 

Another man was taller than the other two, wore a dirty white tank top, and had a dark tone of skin.

 

_Stretch._

 

The last man had a regular height, pale skin, and had well-defined muscles along his arms and legs.

 

_Muscles._

 

Shorty chuckled as he approached the girl. "Eh…we're new to the cul-de-sac. So whatcha got there, sweet cakes?" he questioned. 

 

He had a foreign accent as if he had come from another country. What country they came from is the question, but IA didn't obviously care at the moment, as she was too busy trying to hurry to Yuki's school. 

 

She closed her eyes and then answered, “Who wants to know and why do you care anyway?”

 

"Mmm…just a couple of guys doing some business, if you ask me. So, hand it over…" Shorty rose his hand and pointed at IA's backpack, which had her homework and her school's photography class's camera inside it and then pointed back to him. 

 

She knew immediately that she was currently being robbed, but she couldn’t help but chuckled a bit at her situation. They looked at her in confusion.

 

"Cut the crap guys…If you're trying to rob me, at least do it properly. Otherwise, you're just asking for my things. I'm sorry, but if you want me to take you people seriously, do it now. And before you say something, I've seen this schtick before and you guys are terrible at it. Now if you excuse me, I have better things to attend to rather than just stand around and let some brutes like you take my belongings." IA told the men off before turning around to take her leave.

 

"You're not going anywhere, little girl!" Muscles grabbed IA from her backpack and held her up above the ground. 

 

"I'm in college by the way," IA added with a bored tone in her voice. 

 

"Oh! Hear what she said, guys? She legal!" Stretch chuckled, as he smiled with a toothy grin. 

 

That was when an idea popped into her head. "Hey, do you like to play games?" she questioned. The three men looked at each other in wonder and nodded. 

 

“I made up a game we can play, and if you put me down, I’ll tell you guys how we are gonna go about playing it.” The muscled goon let IA go, and let her walk a couple of feet away from them. She placed her backpack on the cement sidewalk. Stretch looked over to Muscles, who gave him a shrug in return.

 

IA walked back, and then ceased her walking, standing in between her bag and the three men.

 

“Alright, now that I got everything set up, I’ll explain the rules. In order to get the backpack, you have to try and get past me. If you do get past me, you can keep it and everything in it.” She began as she crossed her arms.  
  
The men were surprised how this girl wasn’t at all afraid of what was going on here.

 

Usually, the people they stole from in the past had a look of fear on their faces. IA, however, had a bored expression on her face, as if she had been through this before. She was playing with them.

 

“But if you can’t get past me, and you got knocked to the ground, then have fun going home, crying to your mothers. I won’t go easy on you by the way.” IA told as she rose her fists, standing in a battle position.

 

She did promise to herself not to fight these goons, but they decided to get on her nerves, and she’ll make them pay for it. Fortunately for her, she learned how to fight from past experiences with previous attackers.

 

“Alright, who’s up first?” She asked with a playful smirk on her lips.  
  
Muscles busted out into laughter. “You’re gonna stop us with those puny little arms and hands? One sock in the face from me, and you’re dead!” He challenged as he pumped his fists.

 

"Aw…I was gonna have you go at it last since you have more meat on ya. But I guess it'll do since I like a bit of a challenge once in a while. C'mon!" she shouted when the muscled man ran at her at full speed. IA crouched down as if she was a panther ready to pounce on their prey. 

 

Just as the challenger was within close range, IA leapt up at him and gave him a kick to the side of the face, sending him flying into a parked car. 

 

The two remaining goons gasped in horror and then looked up at IA as she landed on her feet. "You…you…how is this possible?!" "Anything is possible when you put forth your effort. In which, you guys are definitely failing at."

 

"Why you little…!" the tall man then ran at the girl with pure rage across his features. He threw a punch at her but dodged the attack. He growled in anger and threw another punch at her. 

 

This time, he was able to hit her face, but the girl before him was not fazed at all.

 

"How in the-?!" Stretch didn't have time to react when IA grabbed his wrist and threw him to the ground, causing him to bump his head and was knocked out in the process. 

 

Shorty stared at her in utter fear.

 

_Who the hell are you?!_

 

“Hey you!” IA called out while waving her arm in the air, startling the little man.

 

“Are you going to pick up your friends or what? They don’t look too good and may need a helping hand.” She told.

 

He shook his head, panting heavily in fear and turned around to run for his life.

 

IA only scoffed, “Wow…if something like that isn’t pathetic, then I don’t know what is. Never mind, I have to go pick up Yuki from school.” She told herself as she turned to pick up her bag, and left the beaten men behind.

 

* * *

  
  
Later, IA had made it to Yuki’s school and stood outside, leaning against the metal fence and crossed her arms.

 

Just then, a line of young children had walked out of the entrance. Yuki, the young brunette in a red dress and wore pigtails, was holding onto her teacher’s hand as they lead the other students out.

 

The teacher was Kiyoteru Himaya and is also Yuki's father. IA tilted her head in a dumbfounded manner, she didn't remember him working at this school. 

 

"Hey, Kiyo! Yuki! I didn't know you worked here?" IA shouted as she walked up to the pair. "IA, I announced it yesterday during dinner. I finally got myself a job as a teacher, due to one of the other teachers going on maternity leave." He explained. IA nodded slowly and then looked down at Yuki. 

 

She crouched down to her height and asked, “How was school today? Did you have fun today?”  
  
The girl looked down at the tips of her brown Mary-Jane shoes, and then held up a picture that she drew herself, with stick figures and trees drawn on it.

 

“This looks good. What’s it about?” She asked. Yuki pointed at one of the stick figures that looks a lot like her. “That’s me sitting behind the tree. That is the girl that keeps picking on me in class.” Yuki told as she pointed at a stick figure with a wicked look on her face.

 

IA shook her head slowly and took a deep breath in.

 

Kiyoteru looked at IA’s face to find a piece of dirt on her cheek.

 

“IA, your face is dirty! Did you get into a fight again?” he interrogated as he crossed his arms in a bit of anger.

 

The girl in question froze. She knew she was in trouble. IA felt the need to deny the fact that she got into a fight with the three stooges from earlier.

 

But of course, when it comes to family and friends, IA was a terrible liar. She growled in anger and stayed silent for that moment as she stood back up to the man's level. 

 

She sighed, and then got to her explanation. "Alright, so these bandits decided to throw rocks at me and then grab me. They were going to steal my backpack and try to attack me. I fought back and managed to knock two of the tall guys to the ground. I told the short one to grab his friends, and then he just ran away." She told her story, and then laughed nervously, "If I told you how the fight itself was played out, you'd laugh your ass off." 

 

Kiyoteru only sighed, and shook his head in disappointment. “Your grandfather is not going to be happy about what you told me just now. He told to only fight when actual trouble comes knocking on your door.”

 

“And that precisely is what had happened! I was just minding my own business until they threw a freaking rock at me. Wouldn’t you feel provoked to beat them up?” IA replied as she took Yuki’s hand.

 

The man thought about what IA had said and felt a sudden chill run down his spine. 

 

He groaned in anger, and then glared at IA, “Fine! You may have proven a point, but I don’t think that's going to help you get out of trouble.”  
  
“Kiyo! Why must you go and snitch on me for every fight that I didn’t start?!”

 

“It’s because your grandparents care about you. Yuki and I care about you! We don’t want you to get hurt!” IA glared at him.

 

“Okay seriously, can we not talk about this anymore? We’re corrupting Yuki’s innocent mind. Yuki cover your ears!” She said when the younger girl did as she was said to do.

 

“IA, you are 18 years old! A legal adult! Act like it!” Kiyoteru frowned when he went over to the girl and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her.

 

_Goodbye, fun filled weekend, hello Hell! Kiyo you are such a bird sometimes._  
  
The trio walked two streets over until they reached a dome shaped house. As they opened the door and walked inside, IA hung her bag on the hanger, walked into the living room, and glomped onto a nearby couch.

 

It was then her Grandmother, Ayako, walked into the living room through another door. “Hello dear, how was school today?” she asked.

 

IA placed a pillow over her head, “Heck…it felt like heck!” she sighed, and then jumped when she heard her Grandfather, Hayato, shout from upstairs.

 

“Ayako! Who's there?!”

 

“It’s just IA, Kiyo, and Yuki, dear! Come down here and say hello to everyone!” Just as Ayako shouted, IA stood up straight, grabbed the remote from the end table, and turned on the television.

 

The first channel that came up was the news program, which showed a town on fire. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Hey, Guys! Come look at this!" IA called out to her family as they entered the living room to watch the news. "Breaking News at this hour," the news reporter began as he read off a piece of paper, then looked back at the camera. 

 

“There had been major attacks on a nearby town just east from Ginger Town, with a series of explosions and leaving death in the terrorists’ path.” Ayako gasped, then covered her mouth, “That’s horrible!”

 

"They have recently left the city behind for now, and construction workers are now in the case of fixing the town back to its proper state. And now for…" the reporter then looked over to listen to whatever someone had to say. He nodded when he stood back up and stared back into the camera. 

 

"This just in folks! There has been an arrest of three grown men on the west side within Ginger Town. They had stolen various essential and non-essential items, breaking and entering homes, and as reported, harassing the citizens, causing trouble. We caught one of them trying to escape from a recent scene from earlier today, he said that a young woman around her college years has beaten the two other men black and blue, without putting up much effort."

Just when the reporter mentioned the young college girl, Hayato's eyes widened in shock, and then slowly turned his head to IA. She looked back at him and pulled away from him. 

 

_Oh damn, and I though Kiyo was going to be trouble. Way to go news reporter man…_

 

The grandfather swiped the remote from IA’s hands and switched the television off.

 

“Meeting! Kitchen! Now!” The family got off of the couch and headed to the kitchen.

 

"Yuki, go upstairs and do your homework. We're going to have a grown-up talk." Kiyoteru told when the little girl nodded, and then bolted to the stairs. 

 

The four sat at the kitchen table quietly, until Hayato slammed his fist onto the table, breaking the silence. “Explain yourself, young lady!”  
  
IA shifted her eyes away from her grandfather’s gaze and tried slouch down, trying to hide her embarrassment.

 

He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes, annoyed with his granddaughter’s attitude. “Aria, how many times must we have to remind you?! You can’t just go around beating up people, even if they cause trouble themselves. You have to learn to have self-control over yourself!”

 

“But Grandpa, these guys were throwing rocks at me and kept on grabbing me! One of them said, “Oh, she’s legal!” Do you seriously want me to go through something that’s worse than death? Wouldn’t you get pissed off if that were done to you?” IA interrupted, telling her story again.

 

“Okay, the “she’s legal” thing is new…” Kiyoteru added.

 

“Did you remember to stay calm?” Ayako questioned when IA nodded, scrunching her nose up.

 

"Aria, you are an adult now. You shouldn't be getting yourself into these childish fights, or else you'll draw some unnecessary attention like you did just now. You don't want to end up in jail, do you?" IA looked away from Hayato for a moment, then shifted her eyes towards his direction. 

 

“I understand…” she sat up out of her chair and left the kitchen, grabbing her bag and running up the flight of stairs.  
  
Hayato placed his elbows on the table and rested his head onto his palms.

 

“I swear that girl is going to be the death of me one day.” Ayako shook her head. “Oh, stop being such a drama king, Hayato. She may be an adult now, but she isn’t fully grown yet. She still has a lot to learn.” She reassured when her husband looked up at her.

 

“It’s not just IA that I’m worried about.” He breathed out.

 

“Call me a lunatic, but I have a sinking feeling that the Red Ribbon Army is still around, and if we make one wrong move, who knows what will happen to her.”

 

Ayako rolled her eyes. “The Red Ribbon Army isn’t around anymore. Haven’t you remember when Iru and his wife joined sides with that young boy and put them down? Now they’re just a fairy tale." "I haven't told you, have I?" Hayato questioned when his wife looked at him with a worried expression on her face. Kiyoteru sat closer to the couple to listen to the story. 

 

"Ever since that they left the Red Ribbon Army, some survivors still loyal to them have been hunting them down. Thanks to Iru, putting Aria in her music career, that drawn too much attention towards them, and they never realised it until death! It could have been them who caused the accident. Because of them, our son, our daughter-in-law, and One are gone, ripped out of our lives." 

 

Kiyoteru tilted his head and asked, "Is that why you're so hard on her all the time?" Hayato nodded. "I never, ever, want to see my only granddaughter in their position. This is why I tell her to stay out of fights unless if it's important matters, as in a family member is involved. Of course, I have been hard on her. I want her to live a normal life, and keep her as safe as possible." 

 

Hayato then looked over to Kiyoteru. "You, from now on, you have to pick IA up from school, so no one can attack her." "Yes, sir…" IA sat on her bed, staring at the ceiling fan as she groaned in anger. 

 

"There goes my life! Then again, what life do I even have, to begin with?" IA questioned herself when she looked at her bandaged hands and wrists. 

 

_Let’s see how they’re doing…_

 

She found the end of the wrap on one hand, and began to unwrap it, around, around, and around again until she got to her bare skin.

 

She had quite a few scars along her wrist line, although they seem to be healing.

 

She sighed in relief and smiled.

 

_Why do I complain? I should be lucky that I still have my grandparents and Kiyo around to look after me, and Yuki as well. They're the only family that I have left. I should go and apologise for acting so childish today._

 

IA wrapped her wrist in her bandage again, then picked up a tennis ball from her end table drawer, and began to bounce it off the floor as she got up.

 

From another room, Yuki was doing her Math homework when she shot up at the sound of thumping, coming from the other side of the house.

 

She got off her chair and walked out of her bedroom, following the sound as she walked through the hallway until she stopped at IA's door. 

 

IA opened her door, only to stop what she was doing when she saw the little girl at her door.  
  
Yuki spoke up, “Was that you making that sound? That sounded a lot like a monster walking down the hallway. No, stomping down the hallway I mean.”

 

IA looked over to the ball and grinned. "Hmm…I don't think he was stomping. But you're close, though! It did sound like a monster. But he wasn't doing any of those things. Oh no, no, no!" Yuki tilted her head slightly in curiosity. 

 

IA sat cross on her bed, then patted on the bed beside her, suggesting the young girl to sit beside her. Yuki climbed onto her bed and sat down beside her. "The monster was skipping down the hallway because today is his birthday." 

 

“How old did the monster turn today?” Yuki questioned as she dusted the dirt off of her dress. “Who knows? Monsters can live longer than humans can, so he can be any age and, well, we’ll never know.”  
  
IA loved to make up stories or recall silly memories she had in the past for Yuki to enjoy.

 

"Hey, Yuki! Want me to tell you a story of what One and I used to do when we were little?" the raven haired girl nodded. 

 

IA cleared her throat, "One time, back at the house where we lived near a sandy beach, we were playing in our room, jumping off the old dresser our Mom gave to us, and jumped off of it, falling onto the mattress below us. We were gonna jump off of it at the same time, but suddenly...!" 

 

Yuki gasped, “What happened?” “The wood of the dresser snapped in half, causing it to break because of our combined weight. One fell forward onto the mattress, but unfortunately for me, I fell backwards and hit my head off a nail.” Yuki covered her mouth and scrunched up her nose in disgust as she imagined what it must've felt like.

 

“But no need to freak out! It wasn’t the pointy part that I hit my head off of. If it was, I would be dead right now.”

 

“So what happened next?” Yuki asked.

 

“I ended up in the hospital, and One got the blame for it, even though the whole wood breaking part wasn’t her fault. Good thing she got off the hook the next day.” She laughed.

  
Despite talking about the good times she had when she was younger, she became depressed at the thought of bringing up her dead sister again.

 

She remembered all the good and bad days she had with her. One was the one who had thicker skin when it came to bullies and often stood up for her. 

 

IA wouldn't dare herself to think about her without tears welling up in her eyes. They both had a rough childhood, and IA made a vow to not let Yuki go through the same pain as she endured since forever.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile the city of Gingertown, Officer Meiko Sakine had recently finished arresting the three goons from earlier today. 

 

She was a high ranking officer and must attend to her duties in protecting the townspeople from potential chaos. 

 

_Hmph! Like anything exciting would ever happen around here._

 

Meiko was not getting enough of the action that she wanted in her job, as her usual job consists of arresting mediocre criminals or patrol around City Hall. Never had this town been in incredible danger, and she was looking for a challenge, something she signed up for. Although she did wonder who had the guts to bring down these criminals, as she was impressed by their heroism. But at the same time, they didn't need to interfere with her job. As the other police officers placed the three goons into the car, Stretch, who had just woke up from being knocked out, wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at her, showing his interest in her. 

 

Meiko knew what he was up to, and rolled her eyes at him in annoyance when she grabbed his ear, pinching it as hard as she could.

 

“Look pal, just because I’m a woman, doesn’t mean you’re not in the presence of a police officer. So, you better watch who you’re making googly eyes at. Move along!” Meiko scolded as she pushed the man into the car, slammed the door behind him, and watched the car drive away.

 

“Another one bites the dust as they always say.” She told herself.  
  
Suddenly, her communicator rang.

 

“Come in Officer Sakine! Hello? Hello, hello?” it said, trying to get the woman’s attention.

 

She snatched it from her holster and spoke into it, "This is Officer Meiko, over. Is there anything you need from me?" "You won't believe what we just found. You should come down here immediately. It's just on the outskirts of Gingertown, you shouldn't miss it." Meiko nodded, and then pushed the communicator back into its pocket. 

 

She got onto her hovercycle and quickly drove away. She turned on her sirens, warning the townspeople to clear some space on the road for her to get through.

 

A few miles away from town, she parked her hovercycle on the hill and walked towards the scene.

 

"Officer Meiko, thank goodness you're here. You won't believe what we just found." "This better be good, like a dead body or a UFO. Otherwise, you're going on a time out. By the way, you owe me gas money." Meiko pointed at the police officer in front of her when he nodded nervously. 

 

"I can assure you that this will knock the socks right off your feet, Officer Sakine. Just come with me! It's right through these bushes!" Meiko followed the officer to the destination and stopped in her tracks as her brown eyes widened in utter shock. 

 

In front of her was a giant machine of some sort, covered in green moss, and had a huge hole in the glass dome. 

 

"I wonder what this could be." "Ma'am, it looks a lot like a time machine of some sort." The policewoman looked over at him with a look a disapproval.

 

“Doesn’t that kind of stuff usually appear in science fiction comic books?” Suddenly, she took a few steps back, only to find a familiar logo painted across the machine, only a few words were covered with moss.

 

It read: _Capsule Corps._

 

Meiko took out her cellphone from another holster pocket and dialled a number she looked up on her phone's internet browser. She waited for a moment for someone on the other end of the line to pick up, until she heard a young female's voice. 

 

“This is Bulma Briefs of Capsule Corps. How can I help you?”

 

"Uh…yes…This is Officer Meiko Sakine of Gingertown." "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Backup, if it's about the whole smoothie shop incident, I can assure you that it was one of the guys' fault." Meiko rolled her eyes. "No need to worry Ms Briefs, we already got that covered. But that's not what I am calling you for."

 

“Oh! Explain?”  
  
“We just found an unidentified object on the outskirts of Gingertown, and you might be the only one that might know something about it.” “What is it, Officer?”

 

"Well whatever it is, it has your company's logo written all over it. I'm requesting you either have yourself or someone you know has a look at it and take some notes for us." Bulma paused for a moment. 

 

“I’ll see what I can do…”

 

 


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here we witness the death of Dr Gero at the hands of Android 17 and 18, they escape the lab along with Android 16 and even Rocks herself. The Z-Fighters and their new recruits face them off in a harsh battle.

Gero escaped into a cave where he hid his laboratory.

 

Krillin was right behind him, and the other Z-Fighters and their new recruits were on their way to catch him.

 

“This has got to be the worst day of my life! How were they so strong?!” Gero bellowed in anger when he heard Rocks enter the room. Gero’s broken hand was the first thing she noticed. She narrowed her eyes, “What happened? Did you trip and fall on a crocodile or something?”

 

“Ha, ha, very funny 22,” the doctor said sarcastically. “We must waste no time on nonsense, we have company coming and it’s not the good kind.” Rocks stared at him in shock, and then looked around to find Android 19, but was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Where’s 19?” she questioned.  
  
Gero looked up at Rocks with a frown on his already angered face. “One of those ‘Super Saiyans’ destroyed him.” “Super Saiyans?”

 

“They’re a lot stronger than I originally anticipated. I made a mistake of not sending the spy bots to Namek. Then again, now I know how powerful the Ultimate Android is going to be when he gets older.” Rocks lifted an eyebrow. “No doubt that they have followed me here, one of them is outside of the cave at this precise moment.”

 

It was then that the Android's bright cerise eyes widened in horror. "Why would you do that? Don't you realise they're going to destroy everything?" 

 

The Android before her smirked. “It was intentional, you see. This gives me the perfect opportunity to finally activate Androids 17 & 18 after a long time.” “Pa…Pardon?”  
  
Gero picked up a remote control that hung beside the entrance doors, letting the rest of the lights illuminate the room, and approached the two capsule pods.

 

"I didn't want to go through to this again, considering last time," Gero said, remembering the troubles they had caused to the laboratory, knocking over chemistry sets, setting objects on fire, etcetera. "But I have made changes to them. Hopefully, they will obey this time. Make way!" Gero ordered as Rocks stood aside, watching her creator press a button on his remote, opening the lid to Android 17's capsule first. 

 

_I wouldn’t count on it. They may be part machine, yes. But they are still human…that’s why they’re called Cyborgs._

 

17 opened his eyes, revealing to have icy blue orbs staring back at the two, and then climbed out of the capsule. 17 was a young male with black hair that dropped to his chin and was noticeable by the orange scarf he wore around his neck. The Red Ribbon Army logo was embedded onto his black t-shirt. Rocks studied the android by looking at his neutral expression on his face, she didn't know what had lied in 17's mind, so she had to be careful around him.

 

"You're awake now, #17. How do you feel?" Gero questioned when the boy turned to look at him and Rocks. For a moment, he glanced at the remote in the doctor's hand, the very remote that was used to activate and deactivate him. 

 

He had an idea, though. 

 

17 looked up at the duo and smiled.

 

"Good afternoon, doctor. Good afternoon, #22." 17 greeted with the warmest tone in his voice. This baffled the young android girl, baffled to the point where she forgot to correct him about her name. 

 

She knew 17 was up to something, even if his lie was quite convincing. Dr Gero had warned her about him and 18, and how rebellious, yet ruthless, they were towards him. 

 

“Thank you for awakening me.” Gero gasped! “Did you…just…thank me?” “Why of course, you were my creator after all.”

 

_Fascinating, it looks the rewiring in their systems worked!_

 

"Now, let's see how your sister is doing." The doctor walked over to 18's capsule pod and used the remote to activate her as well. 

 

Like 17, 18 opened her eyes, having the same tint of blue as her twin brother, and climbed out of her pod. 18 was a young female who had long blonde hair that stopped at her shoulders and wore mostly denim textured clothing. 

 

She, too, eyed the remote and made the same expression as 17 did. "Good afternoon, dear Dr Gero." She greeted. Rocks glared at her as well. 

 

_How rude of you to look at me as if I’m invisible!_

 

The doctor couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

 

Had he ripped the two cyborgs of their free-will?

 

Are they fully under his command?

 

As Gero and 18 were talking, 17 looked over to Rocks with a devious smirk across his lips. Rocks stared back at him, raising an eyebrow in a dumbfounded manner. He crossed his arms and pointed at the remote he and 18 were looking at earlier with his index finger. “Ah,” she mouthed out, trying to not make a noise. She knew these two were up to something.

 

By the looks of things, they wanted to get out of this place as much as she did.  
  
Rocks was never really loyal to Gero as she was suspected that she was. She was only using the doctor, to find clues on finding a way out of the laboratory. This was the reason why she snoops around the place all the time. The twin cyborgs had planned this all along, and she was going to join them. Rocks nodded, respecting 17’s wishes, and continued to stay quiet as a mouse.  
  
Suddenly, they heard a loud banging noise, nearly making Rocks jump, coming from the entrance doors.

 

The Z-Fighters were here.

 

Of course, they would, as Krillin powered up as Gero went inside, warning the others that he had found the laboratory. Piccolo continued to punch at the metal doors, desperate to get them open, while Krillin and Tien stood back. Anon and Kanon high jumped their way over a few rocks and boulders until they reached the entrance of the cave themselves. 

 

"So this is it…" Anon commented as she looked at the metal doors, which now had small craters and marks thanks to the Namekian's series of punches and kicks. "I see you tried to get the doors open by force. Is there another way to get it open?" She questioned herself when she glanced over to Kanon's sword. 

 

“May I borrow this for a minute?” she asked as she took the sword from Kanon’s sheaf. “Oy! Watch my ear!” The twin exclaimed in surprise as she looked over to Anon, walking towards the entrance doors.

 

Vegeta and Trunks arrived onto the scene.  
  
The first thing the Saiyan Prince saw before him was the human girl trying to wedge the doors open with her sister’s steel blade sword by pulling onto the blade’s hilt while the blade itself was lodged into the cracks of the door.

 

"Are you serious? You can't open the doors like that. Don't you see that there's a password panel on the right door?" Vegeta laughed, pointing at a control panel just behind Anon. Trunks groaned in a bit of anger, while Kanon rolled her eyes in annoyance. Gero approached the doors, giving orders to the three androids behind him. 

 

Just then, the remote was swiped out of his hand by 17. Rocks gasped quietly in shock. The cyborg boy snatched the remote away, his arm moving like lightning. 18 only watched with a cruel smirk across her lips.

 

Gero was in utter shock, and then he shouted at him, “You! What do you think you’re doing? I thought I fixed you!" 17 only stared him down with that icy cold glare of his. "Haven't you figured it out yet, Dr Gero? You may have changed the machinery within us, but there is no chance in hell that you'll ever change the human part of us. Now tell me, is this remote that was used to deactivate us over and over again?" he held the remote away from the doctor. 

 

18 looked over to Rocks and grinned. Anon placed her ear against the door, overhearing the situation coming from inside of the laboratory. 

 

"What's going on in there?" Krillin questioned. "Yeah Anon, let us in on it!" Tien requested. Anon squinted her eyes in confusion and backed up. "The doctor seems to be in trouble of some sort." 

 

Trunks shot up, “That must be the two androids I was talking about. It’s happening all over again. They killed him in cold blood and we’re too late.”

 

Piccolo took a few steps away from the door and lifted his arm, aiming at the metal doors, "Not if we can help it. Now, some of you standing at the door need to get out of my way before you disappear along with it." With that said, the twins, Krillin, and Tien ran out of the cave and took cover behind Vegeta and Trunks. "Give that back to me! If you think this is some sort of joke, then I'm not laughing!" The doctor bellowed as he attempted to get the remote back. "No, it's mine now. And you know what? You no longer have any leverage over us." 17 said coldly as he crushed the remote in his palm. Rocks couldn't help but watch as the cyborg boy taunt their creator in fear. Suddenly, Piccolo blast open the doors, making the already panicking Android creator look back at them in fear. 

 

To him, things have gone from bad to worse.

 

18 looked over her left shoulder to find one of the remaining capsule pods laying around, with a number written on the lid. “Are those the Androids you’ve been talking about, Trunks?” Kanon questioned when she took her sword back from Anon.

 

“That’s them alright. Just make sure they don’t get away from here.” Trunks said as he took out his own sword.

 

“Wait a second, didn’t you say we had to take out _two_ androids? If that were true, then who is _that_?” Krillin asked as he pointed at Rocks.

 

She stared back at the Z-Fighters in shock. She didn't know whether they have decided to kill her, which was what they were going to do to 17 and 18 or to spare her life, as she had done nothing to put them under any harm. But an Android will be an Android to them, and the Z-Fighters has to do what they got to do in order to save their planet.   
“Hey 17, look at this baby here! Who do you think this is?”

 

“No! Stay away from that! You have no idea what you’re getting into!” Gero warned when he ran over to 18.

 

Suddenly, 17 thrust his hand into Gero’s back and out his stomach.

 

The Z-Fighters, excluding Vegeta, and even Rocks gasped. Gero couldn't speak, he was in so much shock. He looked down at his stomach to find 17's hand, and then a hole in his stomach when the latter slipped his hand out of him. 

 

The cyborg boy then chopped off the doctor’s head. Rocks continued to stare at him uneasily as Gero’s still functioning head fell onto the cold hard floor, his body soon fell afterwards.

 

“Okay, _now_ I'm starting to feel sick." Kanon blurted out as she covered her mouth, while Anon clutched onto her arm. Rocks took a couple of steps away from 18 until her back stopped at the corner of the room. 17 placed his foot onto Gero's head. 

 

"Have fun in Hell, doc!" Finally, he lifted his foot up, and stomped on the head, crushing him and putting him out of his misery. Trunks began to growl furiously. 

 

17 turned to the traumatised Rocks, completely ignoring the Z-Fighters, and held out his hand to her. 

 

“Hey you, 22!” he called. She tried to only focus on him, and not the fighters behind him. “I bet you’re going crazy by staying here. You’ve never seen the outside world, have you? Do you want to get outta here or what?” 17 offered.

 

She frowned, how could she go with the same people who shamelessly murdered their creator? Sure, she didn’t like Gero, but she never wished death upon him, only a cruel punishment.

 

And yet, this boy was giving her an opportunity of a lifetime to go out and see the world for the very first time, the very thing she schemed to escape to. Eyeing Trunks in utter anger, she had to act fast. She closed her eyes for a moment, and then gave him a nod of approval.  
  
That was when the lavender haired boy stepped in.

 

"You androids are not going anywhere on my watch!" he shouted when the three androids looked up at him when the former lifted his hand, the bright light appearing on the palm of his hand. 

 

“Look out!” Krillin shouted as he and the rest of the Z-Fighters escaped the cave. The next thing everyone knew, Trunks fired a huge ki blast into the laboratory, swallowing everything in the light’s path.

 

The group covered their eyes to block out the blinding light. The next thing they saw was nothing. The laboratory that once stood was now nothing but rubble and ashes. Trunks was panting heavily, holding onto his now tired arm.

 

Fortunately for him, none of the androids can be found.

 

Hopefully, they perished along with it, or else if they got out of there, he had used most of his power for nothing.  
  
“Now why would you go and do that?” Vegeta shouted to get his future son’s attention.

 

“I’ve finally beaten them! They were going to destroy this timeline like they did mine. They got another android on their side and they’ve got another in that capsule. If we left them alive, then there will be Hell to pay.” Trunks replied.

 

Vegeta chuckled lowly, "Well boy, you better go pay ‘em now because look who's standing over there on that plateau!" Trunks turned to look at his father with concern, then looked over to where he was pointing at. 

 

As the smoke cleared, they found the three androids and the capsule standing on top of the plateau. 17 carried Rocks bridal styled, while 18 carried the pod over her head with her super human strength.

 

She tossed it aside to the ground. Krillin gasped at the sudden thud. Kanon clutched onto the hilt of her katana tightly, waiting for an opening to make her next move on them. 18 moved closer to the capsule pod and pushed a button on the side to open the lid. As it slowly opened, she kicked the lid off to speed up the process. 

 

Inside the pod was another Android indeed, a male with red hair made into a Mohawk, who wore green armour and black clothing, and currently in sleep mode.

 

Rocks got off of 17 to take a closer look at the android. He opened his eyes, and slowly sat up to look around. The android climbed out of the capsule and stood up straight. He was revealed to be the tallest of the group.

 

“Uh…” Anon uttered when she looked over to her sister and Krillin. They were too close to where the four were standing, and it worried her to no end. “He’s just standing there! Menacingly! Get out of there you two!” Anon shouted in spite of fear.  
  
“So, you must be Android 16. It was said on the lid of your capsule.” 18 said, but the tall android didn’t reply. “Gero said that you were supposed to be dangerous, but he had yet to complete you. I hope you are alright with that.” Rocks explained to him.

 

She knew about the creation of 16 and his purpose of his creation. And yet, 16 didn't reply to her either. "What's the matter big guy? Cat got your tongue? The three of us were created by…him…to search for and kill Son Goku. So were you." 17 added when the taller android looked over to him. 

 

“Son Goku?” he finally said. “Oh, so you’re only interested in bringing death upon him. Cool!”

 

Krillin began to panic. “No! Don’t tell me that they’re after Goku too!” “No!” Tien breathed out.

 

"We're done here, let's go!" 18 ordered as the four of them began to take the sky. Vegeta growled in anger as the quartet flew from the scene. 

 

"Wha…What! Why! I was ready to take them on, and they ignored me entirely!" He bellowed, turning into a Super Saiyan and taking the sky himself. Before he could, though, Trunks blocked his path. "Get out of my way boy!" Vegeta shouted, throwing his arm to the side. "Look, I want to destroy the androids as much as you do, and you know that. But we're not strong enough to take on all four of them by ourselves." Trunks warned when his father scoffed in disbelief. "You dare to offend me? The Prince of All Saiyans?! And I call you my son, now get out of my way!" 

 

He tried to fly past the boy, but Trunks blocked him again. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Dad! I only want to ensure your safety so you don't end up dead. We have to wait for Goku to feel-” Before the lavender haired boy could finish his sentence, Vegeta gave him a hard punch to the stomach, and then flew away.

 

The mere mention of Goku's name was enough to make him furious. The immobilised Trunks held onto his stomach with both of his arms. Krillin flew to his side, holding onto one of his arms. "That bastard is going to get himself killed. We need to go after him!" Piccolo told when he powered up himself and leapt into the air. 

 

"We also need to direct them away from where Yamcha took Goku to," Anon added as she and Kanon began to run after him using their ki. Meanwhile, the androids landed on a road curve that was fenced in, so drivers can avoid driving off a cliff. Rocks studied the new environment and then lifted her head to look at the sky, sighing with relief. 

 

They were finally free from the cold, dark laboratory they were forced to call home, but now they were being hunted down by Vegeta and the Z-Fighters.

 

They needed to act quickly.

 

"So, where do you think Goku is hiding?" 17 questioned, giving his attention to 16. He looked over to him and answered, "The possible places Son Goku could be located is either his own house or the Kame House." "Which one should we head to first?" Rocks questioned as she crossed her arms. "Common sense tells me that we should head to Goku's house first." 18 suggested when Vegeta landed on the road a few feet away from them. 

 

"Well look who it is, it's that spiky haired loser from earlier. Hmph, he's persistent alright." 17 commented when he heard the Saiyan Prince laugh. "So, you're all bark but no bite. This should be easy for me. Once I'm done with you androids, you'll be nothing but spare parts." 18 rolled her eyes. Suddenly, Anon and Kanon arrived on the scene and stood behind the androids. 

 

“Saiyans and their blind overconfidence, am I right? One of us should really teach him a lesson on who he’s messing with.” 17 suggested when he looked over to 16.

 

Rocks and 18 looked at each other, then at Vegeta, and finally at the twins. “I’ll see what Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum want, to lessen some stress for you guys.” Rocks told as she looked at the twins behind her with her thumb.

 

Kanon slowly shot up in anger and had Anon pull her back. "Oh don't fret, 22. This Saiyan is going to receive the ass whoopin' of a lifetime. Be sure to break one of their legs for me, ‘kay?" 18 smiled while Rocks smiled back in an anxious manner and nodded. 18 ran at Vegeta, giving each other the first series of punches and kicks, while Kanon charged at Rocks. "What did I tell you, Kanon?!" Anon yelled out when she shook her head nervously and ran after her. 

 

Rocks kicked Kanon in the stomach, keeping her away from 16 and 17. Kanon flew back, hitting her sister behind her. She clutched onto her stomach, then stood onto her feet, and took out her katana.

 

_Oh don’t mind me, I just had my sister thrown at me, but yeah I can get back up on my own no problem._

 

Anon thought to herself when she struggled to stand up straight.

 

16 looked over to the plateau to find a group of red birds fly onto the ground and began pecking at the grass when the former smiled. Vegeta threw 18 towards the rock wall, but recovered in time before impact. The birds on the ledge flew away from the trouble from below them, making the red haired android frown.

 

Rocks walked towards the twins with a bored look on her face. “Well, you should be lucky that kick wasn’t my strongest. Are you sure you have what it takes to stand against me?” Rocks taunted, a little smirk showing on the edge of her lips.

 

“Hell to the yes!” Kanon replied enthusiastically, posing a battle stance and pointing her sword at her, wiping off the saliva that ran down the edge of her lips with only her thumb.

 

18 stared down at Vegeta, figuring out what her next move should be until the latter charged at her again. She dodged the incoming attack by teleporting behind him. He threw a punch at her and blocked it using both of her arms as a shield, though unfortunately for her, he knocked her back. 

 

17 watched the fight from below. “That’s a surprise!” he admitted, “Vegeta proves to be far superior to what the Doc's database suggested. What do you think 16?" the cyborg questioned as he looked over to the taller android. 16 stared longingly at the plateau as to where the group of birds once stood. 17 rolled his eyes. Rocks stared at the twins with a smirk, waiting for them to make the first move. Just then, Kanon charged at her to swing her sword. But when she landed onto her feet and looked around, the Android girl was gone. 

 

Suddenly, Rocks threw a punch at Anon from behind, making her fly forward and landed onto her hands, swinging her body around to recover from the punch. Rocks walked towards the two and rose her fists. 

 

Anon got onto her feet and rose her fists as well. She looked back at Kanon with a serious look on her face, and then began her fight with the Android.

 

18 and Vegeta landed onto the road. 18 glared at the Saiyan Prince while tucking a strand of her bright blonde hair behind her ear. Vegeta chuckled, “Since there’s no way to determine how much damage that has been inflicted upon you, I guess I’ll just have to blow you to bits!” 18 rolled her eyes in annoyance as she watched as Vegeta rose his arm at her. “This is where the fight comes to an end, so get a few laughs in while you can.”  
  
Anon jumped at Rocks and threw a few punches at her, while the latter dodged them all.

 

Rocks had her eyes closed the entire time and still kept that grin on her face. "Kanon! She's not going down! What do I do?!" Anon shouted in panic. "Just keep punching! And whatever you do, do not let that android have the-" Just as Kanon was about to give her twin some fighting advice, Rocks kicked the twin in the check, knocking her back. Then she kicked her to the ground.

 

"Oh my God, you're hopeless these days…" Kanon muttered under her breath, shaking her head slowly.

 

Just then, Anon rolled around to get back up while Rocks jumped on her feet, and gave the latter a few punches.

 

_On second thought you're a badass at fights._

 

Suddenly, she heard an explosion coming around where Vegeta and 18 were fighting.

 

_Can this crazy Saiyan keep it down for one minute so we don’t put other innocent civilians in danger?_

 

The explosion didn’t bother Rocks and Anon one bit, as they were currently at the other’s throats.  
  
Vegeta stood in the same spot. His battle with the Cyborg girl was interrupted by an oncoming truck. He tried to fire a ki blast at her, but she flew out of the way of the blast before it even hit her, hitting the front of the truck instead.

 

“My truck!” the driver shouted. The Saiyan Prince turned to glare at the cyborg girl, who landed on the road behind him.

 

“You’re pretty fast for a pile of scrap metal such as yourself.” “That’s because you’re holding back on me.” 18 retorted, placing her hands on her hips. Vegeta closed his eyes for that moment and chuckled. “Maybe I am! If I ever let myself go at you at full strength, the whole Earth will be nothing but rubble.”

 

_Oh, my God, this guy can't be serious…_

 

18 rose her eyebrow and glared at the prince like he was the most stupid thing she ever saw, and then sighed. “To be honest with you, I was holding back myself. Good thing we’re on the same page here, am I right?”

 

"What's the matter, Android? Are you afraid to be beaten by the Strongest Super Saiyan in the Universe? Honestly, though, you will have to do better than a few petty kicks and punches for me to be afraid of you." Vegeta boasted, trying to scare the android. 

 

18 blew a piece of her golden blonde hair out of her face and grinned, “Good to know!”  
  
Suddenly, she charged at the other at full speed, hitting him in the forehead with her own. She flew back to see a red mark on Vegeta’s forehead, which began to bleed immediately upon impact, dripping over his eyebrow.

 

He stood there for a minute to comprehend what had happened to him just now, and then wiped the blood off of his forehead. 

 

He powered up a bit and ran at Android 18, throwing a hard punch to the stomach. A moment later, the girl’s knee was lunged into his own stomach.

 

Meanwhile, Anon dodged an incoming punch from Rocks and began to throw a series of punches at the android, faster than the speed of sound. She managed to push Rocks to the ground face first, hopped onto her back, got off of her while doing a sideways flip, and made the android girl airborne by a few inches from sliding into her and kicking her in the face. 

 

_I’m actually impressed, sis! Now kick that God damn Android’s butt!_

 

Kanon cheered on for her sister. Rocks somersaulted back to her feet while Anon ran at her. Anon threw a punch that was aimed for her face, but Rocks caught it by snatching her wrist, and jammed her knee into the other’s back, making a bit of blood and spit fly out of her mouth.  
  
Kanon gasped, holding onto her mouth with both of her hands.

 

She was starting to feel worried about her, but she didn’t want to show it.

 

Anon fell backwards onto the ground and then looked up as Rocks leapt into the air. She was going to slam her fist into her face in an attempt to crush the other's head. So she rolled out of the way to dodge the attack as the girl punched the ground instead, making it crack upon impact. 

 

Anon got onto her feet yet again but saw that the blonde haired girl flew at her, and knocked her to the ground again with a kick to the side of the head. Before crashing to the ground, Rocks grabbed the back of Anon's hair. 

 

She grinned deviously when she gave the human girl a knee to the forehead, knocking her back to where Kanon stood. The sister bent down to Anon’s level and helped her sit up while she wiped the blood from her forehead.

 

"Anon, are you sure you don't want me to fight the Android for you?" she questioned, holding onto Anon's chin. "I'm fine! She came to me while I wasn't looking, so I'll have to finish this one on my own." Anon answered as she stood onto her feet and rose her fists. Vegeta stood there in shock, reacting to a knee in his stomach. Just as he was about to fall forward, 18 caught him with only her index finger touching his chin and pushed him back up to her level. She gave him a sudden hard push to the side of his head and sent the Saiyan Prince flying into the rock wall. As the smoke cleared up, there was a hole in the rock wall. 

 

Finally, the Z-Fighters arrived, landing behind 18, surrounding her and the hole.

 

Trunks looked over to the hole, while Tien looked back at the other Androids and the twins.

 

"Dad! Are you alright in there?!" the lavender-haired boy shouted, wanting to make sure the father was still alive. Piccolo glared at 18, while she glanced over to the Namekian, then turned her attention back to the hole in the wall.

 

Anon, Kanon, and Rocks looked back to find the Z-Fighters. "Oy! What took you guys so long? Bird traffic? Geese flew in your face or somethin’?” Kanon joked when she crossed her arms.

 

Tien's eyes widened in surprise, "We were looking around for you two and Vegeta. It's weird how you two got here so fast on foot." "Speed is a necessity according to what our Master taught us," Anon explained. Everyone looked over to the hole in the rock wall to find Vegeta climbing out of it. 

 

Trunks sighed in relief, "Good, you're okay!" Vegeta only laughed, mockingly. "I was okay, to begin with, at least until you simpletons showed up. You just love to take the fun out of everything, don't you?" 

 

Meanwhile, 17 crossed his arms. “Looks like 18 would need a bit of help with the rest of them. I should go! How ‘bout you 16?” The cyborg looked over to his fellow android. “Negative, I will not fight them. I am solely created for the purpose of killing Son Goku.” “Aww…you’re no fun. Well, you can stay behind and continue your bird watching while I take care of the fighters. You’re missing out on all the fun you know!” 17 told as he began to walk away from 16.

 

Rocks looked over to the Android and grinned.

 

“It’s about time you stepped in.” Tien looked nervous when he saw 17 walking towards them. “Guys, that android over there is coming.” “C’mon father! You have to get out of here while you still have so much to live for.”  
  
“Shut your mouth, boy, or else I’ll rip it off! I’m fighting this android and I will take orders from no one!” Vegeta barked. “He’s not wrong you know, you still have a chance to run away. Those who flee aren’t worth chasing.” 18 agreed as Trunks looked up at her in surprise.

 

“Are you brain dead?! I, Vegeta, am not the one to run away from a good fight, especially a fight that I’m so close to finishing and I don’t need help from anyone! Not the Earthlings, not the Namekian, and certainly not Kakarot!”

 

17 began to clap his hands, giving him a round of applause as if the Saiyan had put on a good show. “Impressive, not a bad speech for a fighter.”

 

“I don’t need flattery from you!” the Saiyan barked as he looked over to him. “Compliments are nice once in a while. Besides, I can tell by looking at you guys that you all follow the Warrior’s Code. You know very well that you can’t interfere with a one on one battle. If I’m wrong, then I want to fight as well.”  
  
Kanon rose an eyebrow and tilted her head. She remembered her and Anon’s Master teaching them about the Warrior’s Code, and how foolish it is for a warrior to interfere with another warrior’s battle, unless if it’s a now or never situation.

 

"Like I said before, I don't need help from weaklings! Now can we get on with this fight already?!" Just as he requested, 18 flew at him and kicked him into the air. Vegeta recovered by landing onto the rock wall and pushed himself away from it to fly at 18, hitting her in the stomach with his head. 

 

Anon speed through Rocks a few times, giving her a few blows to the chest from here and there. The Android girl wiped the dust off of her cerise coloured skirt as the human girl in white charged at her, attempting to throw another punch at her, but missed when the former ducked.

 

She hit the girl in the forehead, knocking her back. As she was trying to regain her balance, Rocks leapt forward to knock her to the cold hard ground by slamming her arm against her head. Anon coughed out a bit of blood and then looked over to Rocks, who loomed over her menacingly. She placed her foot on Anon's head and lifted it up as if she was about to stomp on her head and crush it. 

 

Just as Rocks was about to crush her, Kanon ran at the former, clenching onto her sword for dear life, and swung the blade across the Android girl’s legs.

 

Rock's legs were chopped in half and thus made her upper body fall to the side while her legs fell on Anon. 

 

“Oh my god, Kanon!” She gasped as she pushed Rocks’s legs away from her in disgust while she quickly got herself to her feet and backed away from Rocks. 

 

She was in the sitting position, looking at her chopped off legs with a horrified look in her eyes.

 

Luckily for her, though, that she was entirely mechanical, as wires stuck out of cuts like caterpillars coming out of an apple. “Shit! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!” Rocks continued to shout out in panic. 16 looked over to see what the matter was, and was shocked at what he saw before him.

 

_The tall guy’s looking at us. Please don’t come over here and beat us up!_

 

Kanon glanced at 16 with a worried look on her face, then looked over to Rocks. 

 

"You were pretty scared when you saw that android guy stomp on your creator's head. Why do the same thing to my sister? I think the reason why is because you were fighting too hard and some weird switch in you was set to Kill Mode or something." Kanon figured out as she placed her katana back into its original place and walked over to Anon. Rocks remembered how traumatised she was earlier when 17 killed Dr Gero. 

 

Again, she didn’t like the guy, but she never wished death upon him.

 

Why would she do the same to Anon? What had gone over her just now?

 

She grabbed both of her legs and set them across from her. She straightened her upper legs until they touched the lower ones. Wires came out of her upper legs and connected themselves to the lower legs, wrapping around the dead wires and pulled the lower ones up.

 

The twins looked over to see what was going on and gasped in surprise. 

 

Rocks grinned.

 

She had healed herself, her legs looked good as new as if there was never a scratch, to begin with. 

 

“What the hell…” Kanon breathed out.

 

Rocks jumped onto her feet. “I almost forgot that was part of my design.” Rocks stated as she ran her hand down her legs. “Gero got sick and tired of always having to repair everybody after a test battle, so he decided to put a self-healing chip within me. You would have to do better than a cut to the legs to put me down.” Rocks taunted, walking towards the twins.

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, we get to see more life inside the Aozora/Hiyama house, and the closing of a losing battle!

IA was left home alone with Yuki while Ayako was out grocery shopping and Kiyoteru was working at his second job in the office. Hayato was taking one of his late afternoon naps upstairs. IA was watching the news on the retro Television while Yuki did her Math homework on the coffee table in front of her.

 

Just then, the phone in the front hallway began to ring, grabbing IA's attention. "I wonder who's calling," IA asked herself as she pushed herself off of the couch and ran over to the phone box and picked up the phone. "Hello?" She greeted as she talked into the phone to get a reply back.

 

"Um...yes this is Yuki Hiyama's teacher, Mrs Megurine. If her father hasn't told you already, Yuki got into trouble with a classmate today which resulted in a fist fight."

 

IA's eyes were wide with shock as the palm of her hand in which she held the phone with having gotten sweaty with nervousness.

 

"Uh no, her father didn't inform me of this. Why call me instead of him?" Just as Yuki found out that IA was speaking to her teacher on the phone, she knew she had to get out of the room as fast as she can. She began to panic when she remembered what happened if IA ever found out that she got herself into trouble, in which it doesn't happen often. She remembered the older girl chasing her around the house, carrying her under her arm, placed her in the room, and slammed the door shut behind her.

 

That was when Yuki got up from her spot and a run for it.

 

"Alright, thank you for telling me, and have a good weekend." IA nodded when she hung up the phone and placed it back on the phone box. IA turned around sharply, as she knew Yuki would be up to something, and bolted to the living room.

 

She gasped, Yuki was not in the room!

 

"Where the heck did that little booger run off to?" IA asked herself as she leant against the arched entrance, crossing her arms and scrunched up her nose in thought.

 

Just then, she heard a bump coming from the stairs.

 

_That's Yuki alright!_

 

She walked through the living room and walked out through the other arched entrance, walked to the flight of stairs, and began to climb them.

 

The first thing she saw was the door to her Grandparents' room halfway open, in which it was never to be opened at this hour. "You...you...you dummy!" IA panicked quietly, throwing her arms around in hysteria. Yuki picked the very last hiding place she would ever want to look.

 

Again, around this time was Hayato's nap time, and he was never a happy camper if anyone were to go and wake him up.

 

IA cleared her throat and cracked her knuckles, "Here goes nothing..."

 

IA walked slowly and gently towards the door, tiptoeing even, and slipped inside of the room. The room wasn't lit by artificial lights as there was a person currently sleeping in bed.

 

The first place she checked was under her Grandmother's reading chair, as Yuki was small enough to fit under there, but was nowhere to be found. The next place she would look was the closet, but remembered that the hinges needed to be oiled and would squeak if anyone opened the doors.

 

Yuki was too smart to use the closet, she admitted.

 

The last place to look for her was under the bed, in which that would be a horrible place to hide as there was a person sleeping on them.

 

IA frowned, telling herself not to look under the bed, but then shook her head when she crouched down onto her knees and got onto her hands, standing on all fours.

 

Yuki covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming in fear when IA's angered face came into view. She stared at her in panic while IA shook her head slowly. She jerked her thumb in the direction of the door, gesturing for her to get out.

 

Later in the living room, Yuki sat on an armchair, crossing her arms while IA sat across from her.

 

"I just got off the phone with your teacher, and she told me that you attacked someone in class today? Why? Why didn't you tell your Dad? How could you?! You tried to go hide in Grandpa's room when you knew it was his nap time. What were you think-"

 

"This girl in my class was picking on me today, and made fun of how short I was compared to her." Yuki cut IA mid-sentence when she hid her face in the palm of her hands immediately after.

 

IA then remembered Yuki's drawing from earlier and began to connect the dots. But there was no room for sympathy in this talk.

 

"That is not a valid reason to beat up this girl. I mean yeah, she was no better to call you such degrading names, and I bet she's having a talk with her mother. Next time Yuki, just ignore the damn girl. Fist fighting is what kicks kids like you outta school!" IA explained to her when she threw her arms up in the air.

 

"Then why do you get into fights?" Yuki countered when she crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue.

 

IA began to shift her eyes around the room, but then shook her head.

 

"What I go through is different! I get into fights outside of school with random strangers who pick on people. But we're talking about you, not me!" IA looked up at Yuki to find her looking away from her.

 

"Yuki, look at me when I'm talking to you. Are you going to get into fights at school next time? Yes or no?" Yuki stayed silent for that moment and whimpered. "Answer me!" IA demanded when she grabbed Yuki's hand.

 

The latter frowned when she looked up at the older girl. "No..." "Okay good, that's all I needed to-" Suddenly, Yuki pushed IA's hands away, jumped off of the armchair, and ran out of the room. The blonde shook her head and ran after her.

 

She found Yuki marching up the stairs when she stopped at the bottom. "Yuki, please! We can try to work something out! Don't walk away!" IA pleaded when Yuki got to the top of the stairs and turned to glare at her.

 

"You're just gonna tell Papa on me, and he'll yell at me like he yelled at you!" "Okay stop right there, we were only joking around! He's not going to yell at you-" Just then, Yuki ran back to her room, and slammed the door behind her.

 

IA squinted her eyes when she heard the door slam.

 

_Oh gee, thanks for trying to wake up Grandpa._

 

Yuki was afraid of getting into trouble with other people, especially getting yelled at for it, and both IA and Kiyoteru knew that. IA understood her, though, she was going through the same problems as her, dealing with bullies and getting into fist fights. If only there was a way to get her to understand.

 

*****

 

Vegeta blasted at Android 18, destroying her favourite denim jacket and black leggings. 17 punched Piccolo in the stomach while Rocks super kicked Anon into a rock wall.

 

Besides Vegeta, things were not going well for the Z-Fighters. Kanon put away her katana, as she felt she had no use for it since she witnessed Rocks recover from her last attack. She ran at the Android girl, and threw a series of punches at her, in which Rocks dodged them all.

 

Kanon threw another punch at her, this time, she put most of her energy in it, but the Android caught the punch with her left hand. Kanon stared in shock at Rocks's incredible speed and timing and shifted her eyes to her serious look on her face.

 

Just then, Rocks slapped the human girl in the face, making her groan in pain as she took a few steps away from her. Kanon held her cheek to try to ease the pain and looked up when Rocks chuckled.

 

"Nice punches, if that's what you even call them, but I'm afraid to tell you that you're doing them wrong. Gatling Gun!" She leapt forward to where Kanon was standing, catching her by surprise, and threw her own series of punches.

 

This time, Kanon received the end of the fist, and they were quite painful to endure. Rocks was using only one hand, making Kanon's punches look pathetic in comparison. She stopped for a moment, leading the other girl to believe that her temporary torture was over. But when she looked up, the blonde threw her arm back, a smirk played across her lips, and threw a hard punch to Kanon's stomach, sending her flying to where Anon was previously thrown to.

 

"Ugh...what the hell was that?!" Kanon shouted, staring at the Android in awe while she stared back at her. The human girl held onto her stomach as she fell face first onto the ground beside Anon.

 

_How is she so strong?! This is madness! Who the Hell is she anyway?!_

 

Just then, Rocks walked towards the injured twins, looming over them menacingly. At first, her serious expression sent chills to their spines. She could either kill them right here and now, or spare them.

 

Then she smiled, as she made her decision. "You managed to knock me down and cut off my legs. I am rather impressed, but like I said, it's going to take a lot more than that to take me down." Rocks gloated when she turned on her heel to walk away.

 

"Wait!" Kanon shouted weakly, making the Android girl stop dead in her tracks. She looked over her shoulder to listen. "I know this is random and I'm not too sure if you said it before, but I want to ask for your name."

 

"My name?" Rocks wondered. "Yeah, your name, and nothing else," Kanon told as she shook her hand. "I am designated as Android 22, but I prefer to be called Rocks," She answered when she began to walk away, leaving the injured twins behind.

 

Kanon groaned when she dropped her head, her face hitting the ground. "Kanon?" "Yes, Anon?" "If we ever get out of this alive, allow me to kick your butt tomorrow." "Why tomorrow?" Kanon asked as she looked over to Anon. "I can't feel my legs..." "Oh..."

 

"Uh, guys! I don't know about you, but there's another Android coming over here!" Krillin warned as he looked over to Rocks, on her way over to where the other Z-Fighters were.

 

Luckily for them, since Goku wasn't around at the moment, Rocks decided to stand against the rock wall with her arms crossed. Besides killing Goku, Rocks done what she had to do, and wanted to see how 17 and 18 were doing.

 

17 already knocked out Tien and Piccolo, while 18 gained the upper hand on the Saiyan Prince. She fought him over where Rocks was standing.

 

Just when Vegeta was about to throw a punch to 18's face, she swept out of the way and gave him a hard boot to the arm. Vegeta screeched when he felt the bones in his upper arm shatter like glass.

 

He fell onto his stomach, and just when he was about to relax, 18 kicked him in the stomach.

 

"Father!" Trunks screamed out, changing into a Super Saiyan and charged at the Android girl. He threw his sword down at her while she blocked the attack effortlessly with her arm.

 

When the sword hit her arm, in which it didn't even cut her in the slightest, the blade smashed into pieces, chips of it falling off.

 

Just as Trunks stared at his sword in utter horror, 17 flew right behind him and bashed him in the head, knocking him out of consciousness and out of his Super Saiyan form.

 

Rocks turned to look up at 17 and 18 flying down. "Took you guys long enough, I finished beating up the twins before you guys did."

 

"Harr harr harr..." 18 laughed sarcastically when she and 17 landed beside her. "It took a bit, yes. But I managed to break the Saiyan's arm."

 

"Is that where the girly screech came from?" Rocks joked as the three walked over to where 16 stood.

 

Just as they were about to take their leave, Krillin blocked their path. "You guys are not going anywhere while you still have me to deal with." He challenged, raising his fists to prepare for a fight.

 

"Please, if we kill you, there will be no one left to give their friends some Senzu Beans." 17 warned when the four tried to past him, but he flew back further to stop them.

 

"Alright, so fighting is out of the question. But hear me out. I need to ask you something. Are only going after Goku or are you planning to take over the world?"

 

The quartet exchange glances, and then look back to him.

 

"Killing Son Goku is certainly on our agenda. But taking over the Earth? Can we just live a little before we go into politics?" 17 joked.

 

Rocks studied the small Z-Fighter and figured out a way to try and get him out of the way. So she stood in front of the group, "Stand aside or I'll blow you to oblivion." Rocks threatened as she rose her arm and prepared to fire an artificial ki attack, scaring Krillin a bit.

 

18 placed her hand on Rocks's arm when the latter looked over to her with a confused look on her face. "It's okay Rocks, I'll take care of him." Rocks cancelled her attack and let 18 walked past her.

 

"If your last option is to beg us to not kill Goku, then you're wasting your time." 18 told. 16 then added, "We were created by Dr Gero to kill Son Goku."

 

"Then why did you kill Dr Gero? He hated Goku as much as the next kid." Krillin asked. Rocks's eyes widened, as she wondered about the same question as well.

 

"But unlike Gero, we're only doing this as a little game. You know, to keep us occupied for a while. But seriously, though, you really need to give those beans to your friends, just in case if we get bored and want to go for Round Two." 17 explained.

 

"We should really get going, onto a nearby town maybe? But until then..." 18 began her sentence as she leant down to kiss Krillin on the cheek. His eyes widened when his cheeks began to heat up. 17 rose an eyebrow while Rocks tilted her head sideways.

 

_Is that what a kiss looks like?_

 

18 stood back up and gave him a smile. "See you around!"

 

That was when the four Androids flew over a flabbergasted Krillin into the distance.

 

_A kiss, huh? I really need to look into that._

 

After getting his head back into gear, Krillin revived everyone by feeding them each a Senzu Bean.

 

"So that's what a Senzu Bean does? Man, we can heal the sick with these!" Kanon flipped onto her feet excitedly.

 

Krillin smiled nervously when she said that. "Wish we can do that, but there is so much Korin can give at the moment." Kanon frowned when the two heard Anon getting up. "That is very understandable, sorry we asked." "No harm done, guys." The twins nodded as Krillin began to walk away.

 

Just then, Anon grabbed Kanon's chin and forced her to look at her in the face. "Why didn't come in and get me out of the fight?!" Anon shouted nervously when she gave her a slight bonk to the head with the side of her fist. "To be blunt, it was not my fault for getting you into something that was way beyond my control."

 

Anon groaned in anger and began to repeatedly punch her sister in her arm.

 

Meanwhile, the Z-Fighters gathered around as they watched Vegeta fly off into the distance on an angry note. No one made an attempt to go after him, for they knew the reason why the Saiyan Prince got upset was that, thanks to Android 18, his Saiyan pride was broken.

 

"I'm really sorry for not helping you guys earlier." Krillin apologised when he looked down at his feet. "Save your breath, you wouldn't have made a difference if you stepped in to help anyway," Piccolo said, looking down at him, and then looked back at Tien and Trunks. "Yeah, and even if Goku was with us, he wouldn't have made a difference either. Trunks took out Frieza and his father in one blow, and even he got knocked out." Tien added as he crossed his arms.

 

Trunks looked over to the damaged rock wall, and then back at the group. "No good! The androids I remember weren't as strong as these androids."

 

"Then get the twins and tell them that the five of you have to get Goku as far away from his house as possible before the Androids get to him," Piccolo warned when he turned away from the group.

 

"And what are you going to do in the meantime?" Krillin questioned when the Namekian groaned. "C'mon Piccolo, we're your friends. We're all ears."

 

Suddenly, Piccolo turned to glare at the group, making those under his glare uncomfortable. "Did I say any of you were my friends, to begin with? No, I'm only using you as a tool for world domination. Now stay out of my way!" He powered up and then bolted into the air like a gunshot.

 

The three stood in utter shock when the twins ran over to them. "Can anyone fill us in on what happened? We just saw Piccolo fly off somewhere like nobody's business." Anon wondered when she stared at the red and orange sunset.

 

Krillin shrugged. "Either the coo coo went boing boing, or he was joking. He is joking, right?"

 

"Ugh! I can't believe he's still trying to take over the world! That ba-" "Wait a minute!" Krillin interrupted Tien mid-sentence. "Didn't you see which direction he flew off to? He's going to Kami's place to figure out what to do next!"

 

"Let's hope he's not plotting to take over the world over there," Kanon added sheepishly. "It's weird, though, he must be desperate to go there. We know how much he hates Kami." Tien said when Krillin nodded.

 

Then he remembered what Piccolo told him to tell the twins. "Alright guys, let's forget about Piccolo for a minute and listen up. We have to get Goku away from his house."

 

"Yeah, knowing the Androids, that will be one of the first places they'd look for him." Trunks told. "Then what are we standing around for? Show us the way and we'll have him outta there in a zip." Kanon replied optimistically.

 

"That's gonna be a problem, considering that we first have to convince Chi-Chi, and have an aircraft carry him out of there, just in case if he still has the virus." While the group talked among themselves, Trunks looked up into the sky and thought about Vegeta.

 

_What are you planning to do, Dad? What are you planning to do?_

 

 


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here, Piccolo turns to Kami, looking to fuse with him, while the trouble with Yuki has been mended.

Yuki stayed in her room all afternoon till the late evening came, and all the while finishing the last bit of homework she had, sorted her stuffed animals alphabetically, and laid in bed while counting the square tiles on her ceiling.

 

Suddenly, Kiyoteru slowly opened her bedroom door while holding a paper plate with a slice of pepperoni pizza in his other hand. Yuki turn to see who entered the room, and immediately looked away in fear when she saw that it was her father that entered the room.

 

"Hey wait, Yuki, sweety. We need to talk for a minute." Kiyoteru told as he walked across the room towards Yuki's bed and sat down beside her. Yuki only covered her ears and looked away, fearing the worst.

 

"IA told me what happened earlier today while we were gone, and I want to say that I am upset with you for the way you acted. But you're not in trouble." The brown haired man explained to her when she turned around to look at him, this time with a little more assurance. "You're not mad at me about what happened today?"

 

"Like I said Yuki, I'm upset, especially about you punching a girl at school. Why didn't you say anything about it before?" Yuki looked to her side and grabbed her left arm with her right hand, expressing a sense of guilt.

 

"You'd get mad at me like you would get mad at IA." Kiyoteru only shook his head, then squinted his eyes.

 

"Yuki, IA is...um...something else. She went through a lot of trouble in her lifetime, and the family and I worry about her sometimes. As for you, you are almost 10 years old. You still have the rest of your life left to make it a good one. You know I can never stay mad at you forever."

 

Yuki grinned and held out her arms to hug him. Kiyoteru then placed the plate of pizza down on the bed beside them, and wrapped his arms around the daughter's waist and pulled her close.

 

"Is Mama mad at me?" Yuki questioned, referring to her mother who had died nearly a year after she was born. "No, of course not honey! We'll have everything sorted out when we go back to school on Monday." the father chuckled heartily.

 

He let go of her and sat up from the bed. "Come on, everyone else is downstairs getting ready for a family movie, we got pizza and two bottles of soda in the living room. Also plastic cups." Kiyoteru told as he handed Yuki her plate of pizza and headed towards the door while she followed him.

 

"What are we watching?" She questioned as she stopped at the door. "I don't know, you'll have to wait and see, as it is a surprise," Kiyoteru answered as he wiggled his fingers.

 

The two walked out of the bedroom, walked down the flight of stairs, and entered the living room. IA and her grandparents were sitting on the couch in front of the TV while a box of pizza sat on one side of the coffee table while the two 2L bottles of soda stood on the other.

 

"Yuki! So glad you're up!" IA said excitedly as she looked up at the two walking into the room. "This is going to be exciting! I got you a cup of soda, it's your favourite soda by the way, and I even saved you a seat." The blonde told as she took the plastic cup filled with soda from the table and pulled it towards her, then patted on a cushion beside her.

 

Yuki placed her plate of pizza down on the table and climbed to the spot on the couch when IA handed her the cup. "So IA, what's the surprise movie about?" Yuki asked before taking a sip of her soda.

 

_Good, Kiyo didn't tell her what it was._

 

"Well, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you what it was about," IA told when she picked up the DVD player remote and pushed a button to close the disk.

 

An hour and a half later, the movie credits began to roll.

 

Yuki fell asleep on IA's shoulder while Hayato fell asleep staring at the ceiling, as usual. The pizza box had a few slices left for leftovers, and one of the bottles of soda was empty by the end of the movie.

 

IA got up, trying to not disturb Yuki while doing so, and attempted to help her grandfather, but was stopped by her grandmother. "It's alright Aria dear, Kiyo and I will help your grandfather get to bed. Can you help Yuki though?"

 

"Of course!" IA nodded when she turned around and walked towards the sleeping little girl. She slipped one arm under her kneecaps and the other underneath her neck, and picked her up, carrying her bridal style. IA almost stumbled over due to Yuki's weight but kept herself still in order to regain her balance, luckily.

 

"IA, are you sure you got her?" A worried Kiyoteru looked over to IA. "Yes, I got her, dingus. I'm not perfect you know." The blonde said as she stood up straight and walked out of the living room. "I swear this girl is going to be the death of me one day," Kiyoteru squinted his eyes in annoyance when Ayako shook her head while keeping a grin on her lips.

 

IA walked up the stairs, all the while trying to keep her balance, walked towards Yuki's room, lifted the corner of her sheets, and placed her under them. She pulled the sheets over her sleeping body to tuck her in. "Goodnight Yuki, we'll see you in the morning," IA whispered softly as she leant towards the younger girl's face while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, a gave her a kiss on the cheek.

 

She then stood onto her feet and proceeded to leave the room.

 

* * *

 

 

Piccolo had finally arrived at the Lookout, regenerating his turban and cape with his ki when he landed on the floor of the floating temple.

 

It was around midnight when he had got there, and the environment around him was dark, save for a few candles that lit up the walls of the temple, and the lantern that had hung from Kami's staff.

 

The old and wise Namekian glared at the younger one furiously, as the other did the same, startling the already nervous Mr Popo, who stood beside him. Piccolo groaned in a fit of anger as he walked towards them.

 

"You can probably guess as to why I'm here," He said when he stopped and crossed his arms.

 

Kami grinned before replying, "I would never imagine that tonight would be the time that we become one Namekian." "I warn you that this won't be an equal union. I only need you to fuse with me in order to be strong enough to fend off these Androids. Your only reason for existence anymore is so we can use the Dragon Balls." Piccolo barked.

 

"That's not true! You can't just..." Just as Mr Popo walked up to defend Kami's honour, the old Namekian blocked him by placing his frail hand over his chest.

 

"No, Piccolo is right. The difference in our power has grown wider without me even realising it." Kami began as he watched the light in his lantern flickered as the wind flew past them, their capes flowing along with it. "In these dark times, I've become useless. They defeated Trunks Briefs, the same boy who had put an end to Frieza and his father, King Cold, once and for all. They have even defeated Vegeta, who was stronger than Trunks. As for Goku, even if his illness passed by, I believe he won't stand a chance against them either."

 

"I know that," Piccolo told when Kami looked up to pay attention to him. "What the world needs now isn't a guardian to watch over the world, but a warrior to protect it." He reasoned as Kami nodded.

 

Mr Popo shivered nervously, afraid of the decision he knew his friend was going to make. "K-Kami..." "I understand what you're implying Piccolo, and I agree to give you my body." The old guardian told as he walked over to the edge of the floating temple, looking at the world below him. "However, I need to see if these Androids are truly a threat to Earth."

 

Piccolo stared at Kami in shock, "What? No, I don't have that kind of time! You can't just expect me to wait while you "look things over." They were going to kill-"

 

"You and the others started that fight! If none of you was so reckless like you were, then I'll consider fusing with you now. Even so, they had no intentions of killing you." Just then, Piccolo grinned in annoyance, then replied, "You've got a lot of nerve blaming us for that mess. You probably heard what Trunks had said about these Androids. Because of them, everyone will be dead." "Yes, I heard of Trunk's warnings, but from what I've seen so far, these Androids from this timeline are very much different from the ones in his timeline."

 

Piccolo frowned at Kami's comparison of the two Cyborgs and stared at the guardian in confusion. "What about the other two Androids, are you going to say that they're cute too?"

 

"Now Piccolo, I did not say that. So far, one Android does not wish to fight. The other can be easily misled." Kami explained.

 

"Are you saying that all four of these androids are the good guys here?" "Not exactly, I haven't done many observations on them yet to consider that. If I'm ever going to going to make the final decision of my life, I want to have a good reason to do so."

 

"Fine, until you find your reason, I'll wait here," Piccolo told when he sat down on the ground and began to meditate.

* * *

 

 

After arriving at Goku's house, with a bit of convincing to do, the Z-Fighters got him onto an aeroplane. After Gohan arrived, he and Chi-Chi began to pack their clothes and placed their bags on the plane.

 

Yamcha closed the ramp after everyone got on board, and flew them away from their home.

 

"So it's like a game to them. They still want to kill Goku, even though they hate Gero's guts." Krillin explained to Yamcha, Chi-Chi, and Gohan. Chi-Chi sat on the side of the mattress Goku slept on, to keep watch over him while she listened.

 

"Are they really that strong?" Gohan questioned, leaning forward to listen to the conversation. "Yep," Kanon replied bluntly when she ate a potato chip from a bag she bought with her last bit of change on her way to Goku's house.

 

She swallowed before continuing. "They also got two more androids with them. The one tall guy with the red Mohawk and has a thing with birds. The other was a girl with long golden hair and pink streaks. She looked a bit familiar, though, I can't put my finger on it."

 

"These Androids are making me nervous here..." Anon quivered, rubbing her arms as a sudden chill ran down her spine.

 

"Uh...moving on...you might as well say that they are stronger than Trunks here originally anticipated," Krillin replied with a hint of nervousness in his tone of voice.

 

Everyone on the plane was quiet for that moment.

 

The twins turned to each other with fearful looks on their faces, while Chi-Chi looked over to her sleeping husband and frowned.

 

Yamcha broke the silence, "So guys, what do we do now?" "That's what I want to know, Yamcha. With Goku bed ridden, Piccolo gone nuts, and a band of Androids loose, what CAN we do?"

 

Trunks played with his thumb and index finger while everyone else talked amongst themselves, trying to think of a plan.

 

Suddenly, an idea came to him.

 

"I might have a plan," the lavender-haired warrior told when the group stopped talking and turned their attention to him. "You have a plan to stop the Androids?" Anon asked when she got up from her seat, walked around the mattress, and sat in a seat beside him. "Lay it on us, pal." Kanon requested.

 

Trunks cleared his throat before speaking, "I could use my Time Machine my Mom built to go further back into the past and destroy them before Dr Gero could get a chance to activate them. I finally know where he kept his laboratory at."

 

Yamcha turned to look at Trunks, "I think that's a great plan!" "Wait a minute Trunks, remember when you came back the first time? Your Time Machine took a lot of energy to get it working again. Are you sure it's a good idea to go even further back in time?" Krillin remembered.

 

Trunks sat up straight.

 

"You see..." Just before he could speak any further, Gohan asked a different question. "If you go back in time to destroy those Androids, what will happen to the ones here?" Trunks then shot up, startling Anon. "Damn it, I forgot a very important detail. If I ended up going back, I'll save that future, but this timeline wouldn't even change at all."

 

"Wait, what are you saying?" Kanon questioned when she scratched her head. Trunks turned his attention to her, "Before you guys came along, I was able to save Goku by bringing him the medicine needed to cure his heart. In my time, he's still dead."

 

He then slouched down in his seat and dug his face into the palm of his hand. "I am such an idiot..." Chi-Chi looked at him with a frown. "Trunks, don't put yourself down like that. I, for one, am glad you brought the medicine. I've lost him once, and I don't ever want to lose him again."

 

Just then, the telephone at the plane's cockpit began to ring.

 

"Someone get the phone, Goku's still sleeping over here!" Anon waved her arms in panic.

 

"That's probably Bulma," Krillin guessed. "The blue haired chick that was with us earlier?" Kanon added. "Yeah, but I might as well stay away from this one. She likes to bite people's heads off when she talks to people. Try living with her for a few years and you'll know what I mean." Krillin joked, referring to the past when he, Bulma, and Goku were kids.

 

"I know what you mean." Trunks agreed as he let out a nervous chuckle. "Well she seemed pretty nice when Anon and I met her in the mountains, so if no one's gonna answer her call then I will." Kanon offered when she got out of her seat and walked to the cockpit.

 

She took a seat beside Yamcha and picked up the phone. "Hello?" She spoke. "KRILLIN WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?!" Bulma shouted into the phone, startling the apricot-haired girl and making her fall out of her seat.

 

"Whoa, are you okay there Kanon?" Yamcha questioned when he watched her regaining her balance and sat back onto her seat. "Thanks for helping me up, Yamcha," Kanon said sarcastically when she grabbed the phone that hung on the control panel.

 

"Sorry Ms Briefs, this is Kanon Anzu, one of the twins from the mountains earlier." Kanon corrected. "Oh, the one with the ponytail? I am so sorry for the shouting. Couldn't contain my excitement. Is Trunks there?" Bulma asked.

 

"Uh yeah! He's here!" She answered when she turned to look at Trunks. "Okay good, could you put him on for me? This is very important!" "Wait, this phone can go on speaker. Do you mind if you tell everyone? I just need to turn down the volume because we have Goku on board." "Sure!" Kanon pressed a button with a speaker icon, then turned down the phone's volume.

 

Krillin, Trunks, and the rest of the group gathered around Kanon and Yamcha to listen.

 

"Earlier this afternoon, a policewoman from Gingertown called in. She told me that her team found a strange vehicle in the middle of a forest beyond the town's boundary." Bulma explained as she looked at a picture she printed out earlier.

 

"O-Okay, what else did she say?" Krillin asked. "She called me because she wanted to know how to get it working and to take some notes. I couldn't recognise it over her description, then she told me that this vehicle had the Capsule Corps logo on the side. After Gohan dropped me and Yajirobe off to my place, I ran over there to take a look at it myself."

 

"And?" Kanon said, wanted to hear more. "It turned out to be Trunks's Time Machine, only covered in moss and it looked a bit beat up."

 

"Huh?!" Trunks shot up when his mother mentioned the said Time Machine. "How is _that_ possible? There was only one Time Machine built and I have it with me in a capsule." He took a metal case out of his pocket, which contained the said capsule inside of it, and presented it to the group.

 

Krillin and the others turned to observe the capsule and then back to the panel. "Trunks said he has the Time Machine with him." "I could hear him Krillin, I'm not deaf." Bulma countered.

 

"Odd, if Trunks said there was only one Time Machine made, then where did this one come from?" Anon questioned as she rubbed her cheek to think. "Here, I'll fax you the picture. I want some of you guys to meet me at the spot first thing in the morning to check it out. So try to get some sleep tonight." The teal haired woman told as she placed the picture she held into the fax machine slot on top of her printer.

 

Just then, the picture slid out of the fax machine that was built into plane's control panel. Kanon pulled it out of the machine and took a look at it while the group looked over her shoulders.

 

"Uh, Trunks? I haven't really seen what your Time Machine looks like, but does it look roughly like this?" She questioned when she handed him the picture.

 

His eyes widened in horror, it was just as his mother described it. It looked exactly like his Time Machine, only battered up and had moss growing on the sides.

 

What Bulma forgot to mention, though, was the hole in the glass dome.

 

* * *

 

 

A few hours before sunrise, Piccolo still sat crisscrossed on the floor, waiting for the moment for Kami to change his mind. He looked over at him and smirked, "Why look so down? You'll lose that ability once we fuse." He mocked when continued to meditate.

 

Suddenly, Kami began to shiver, as if the Lookout's temperature had dropped drastically. Mr Popo noticed it as well. "K-Kami, are you alright?"

 

"I've never felt so horrified in my life," Kami replied. "Now see," Piccolo began to gloat, "I told you those Androids were trouble."

 

"It has been worrying me for the past four years." The old Namekian uttered when Piccolo shot up. "Four years? Kami, what are you talking about? These Androids were released hours ago."

 

"It's not that, young one. There's a life form that had come back to this time, and they are stronger than the Androids." Piccolo shook his head in disbelief and stood on his feet.

 

Kami held his grasp on his staff tightly and turned to face the younger Namekian. He almost hit Mr Popo with his staff by accident when he turned, and thankfully he ducked.

 

"Piccolo, I've made my decision. Once we fuse, you will understand everything that I had sensed."

 


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, IA and Yuki discovered that the people of their town disappeared while finding and rescuing a Welsh Corgi pup in the process, while Rocks flies off to explore the mysterious power level.

Hours ago, the four androids had stolen a pink Lucky Foods delivery van from a nearby gas station while the drivers weren't looking. When they did, the food that was to be delivered was already dumped out, and the quartet had sped away from the scene.

 

17 sat in the driver's seat, 18 sat in the passenger seat, and Rocks and 16 had to sit on the floor of the truck on the account that there were no more seats like 17 and 18's.

 

It was the boy's idea to drive while his sister was against the idea, 16 preferred flying, and Rocks could care less.

 

But alas, they needed to keep a low profile so the Z-fighters wouldn't catch up to them so easily. 17 needed to drive them to the nearest town first so 18 could get some new clothing. Rocks stared out of the back window the whole ride.

 

They listened to a CD that was loaded into the CD player.

 

Why Rocks decided to stay with the three, even though she watched one of them crush their creator's head, and she could leave them behind anytime, was beyond her.

 

Yet, despite this, these were the same Androids that helped her escape, the same ones that helped achieve her freedom, and they seemed to be friendly towards her, despite the twins' cold looks.

 

Her main priority was the same as theirs, find Son Goku and kill him. After that, she wouldn't know what to do next, as she had a lack of free-will. Although, she remembered wishing to find the girl who took part in creating her, the one her blood was donated from.

 

Suddenly, the scanner installed into her brain had picked up a large power level that had come out of the blue. She got to work trying to figure out where it came from, but her scanners didn't present her with any location. The blonde and pink haired android shot up, her artificial adrenaline coursing through her mechanical body, and began to shift her head into different directions frantically.

 

16 looked up at her and rose his eyebrow in concern. "What is wrong, #22?" He questioned. Rocks turned to the red haired android. "My scanners have detected a large power level, but I can't seem to make out who it belongs to, or where it is coming from. It feels like it's all over the place as if it's in the air." She explained thoroughly.

 

16 looked towards the back windows as well. "I, too, detect a large power source." He said. "Does your scanner know who it belongs to?" "Negative, my scanners cannot detect the user of this power source. However, I know of the location of the source." The android girl sat down in front of the red-haired android to listen what he had to say.

 

"It is located in the west, in the Gingertown area." 16 answered. "Gingertown?" 18 scoffed, turning herself around to listen to the pair's conversation.

 

"That is like one of the most boring towns within this area. Nothing ever happens there except for a few occasional robberies. Why would anyone go there?"

 

"Probably to hide Goku in the last place we would look, since you said it yourself that it was a boring town. Maybe it might have been him that appeared on my scanners." Rocks explained as she stood onto her feet.

 

"So Rocks," 17 muttered, wanting to get in on the conversation as well. "Are you suggesting that we'd look for him in Gingertown?" Rocks turned to 17. "Not quite, I was suggesting that I look for him there, while you go check for him at his house."

 

"So we're splitting up?"

 

"Yeah, we can cover more ground that way. And if I can't find him, then I'll fly back to you guys. I'll meet up with you guys when you get to Goku's house" She told as she walked to the back of the van and opened the back doors, letting her long hair fly in the wind.

 

"Hey, I'll save you some clothes when you get back." 18 smiled. "That won't be necessary, but thank you. I'll see you guys when I get back." Rocks only nodded once before she leaped out of the van, and used her artificial Ki to fly into the light hydrangea sky.

 

* * *

 

 

"IA! IA wake up! This is an emergency!" Yuki ran across the hallway to IA's bedroom and shook her arm.

 

"Huh?" IA muttered when Yuki grabbed her arm and pulled her off of her bed, onto the floor. "Okay, okay I'm up. What's so important that you had to wake me up early for?" The light blonde questioned when she sat onto her hindquarters.

 

"You...have to come outside." Yuki took a deep breath. "Everyone's gone!" She got up and ran out of her bedroom while IA was trying to comprehend on what in the world came out of Yuki's mouth just now.

 

She pinched her arm to check if she was still sleeping and felt a bit of pain, and then remembered the fact that she couldn't feel pain anymore.

 

"IA, are you coming?" Yuki asked as she poked her head through the crack of the door. "Uh...yeah I'll be out there in a minute, just let me get dressed first," IA explained when she stood onto her feet.

 

"Okay, I'll wait for you out-" "Yuki, you know it's not a good idea to go outside by yourself without supervision."

 

Yuki just stood at the door with only a fake smile on her face. "I like your art." Hearing this made IA cross her arms with a frustrated smile. "Stop trying to butter me up. Now go dress out of your pajamas and wait for me in the hall, 'kay?" IA told as she gently pushed Yuki out of her room and closed the door behind her.

 

A few minutes later, IA walked out of her room wearing a blue sleeveless sweater, a black long sleeved shirt underneath, a pair of dark gray jeans, and a pair of yellow sneakers. She also wore her school's camera around her neck.

 

Yuki walked out of her room wearing a black t-shirt underneath, a pair of jeans, and a pair of blue sneakers that were a size too big for her.

 

"Are you ready?" IA questioned when Yuki nodded. The younger girl looked over at the camera and said happily, "You brought your camera!" "Well yeah, just thought if you wanted me to go see something strange, might as well take a picture of it." "That sounds like a great idea. Now follow me!"

 

Yuki took IA's hand and led her down the flight of stairs to the front door. IA unlocked the door by turning the knob on the lock and pulled the door open as they ran outside.

 

When IA looked up, she couldn't believe what she was looking at. "God have mercy..." IA said quietly to herself when she looked around the street before them.

 

The road that was usually busy on the weekends was now covered in scattered clothing.

 

IA grabbed hold of her camera, set it within perfect range, and pressed the button on top of the camera to take the photograph. Afterward, the photograph was printed out of the bottom of the camera when IA pulled it out and began to shake it back and forth until the picture dried and began to show.

 

"Either some laundry truck drove by and got into an accident, and thus spilling some clothes everywhere. Or an apocalypse happened. Either way, this was not supposed to happen." IA hypothesized when she walked down the porch stairs.

 

"Yuki, what else did you see?" She asked when she turned to the dark brunette. The girl only shrugged, but soon shot up when she had gotten an idea.

 

"I woke up to gun shots," Yuki told her. "Okay, that would explain why there are police uniforms and rifles everywhere," IA said as she and Yuki approached a yellow t-shirt and crouched down to study it. The light blonde noticed that there was a hole in the back of the t-shirt, but none on the front, neither did she spot a single drop of blood around where the hole was.

 

"This is odd," IA began while continuing to look at the t-shirt. "It doesn't look like this guy was shot, or else the bullet would've shot through the victim's chest as well. The rifles the police carry are the best ones around. Besides, where are the bodies?"

 

"IA, I found something!" Yuki interrupted IA's train of thought when the former stood up and ran over to whatever she found. "Yuki, be careful, you don't know what's-" IA was about to warn her when she looked down in shock. She was about to gasp when she covered her mouth with her hands.

 

The two girls had found a whimpering Welsh Corgi puppy struggling to escape the debris that had trapped his leg. He looked up at IA and Yuki, with a sad looking face that gave them an idea that he needed help.

 

"Okay, I'll move the debris while you get him outta there," IA ordered as she ran over to the pile of wood that trapped the dog in his place while Yuki ran over the dog.

 

The older girl dug her fingers under the debris, "Alright, on the count of three, I'll pull this up while you pull him out...1...2...3!" IA counted when she used all of her strength to lift the debris. When Yuki pulled the Corgi out, she fell onto her back while the dog fell onto her stomach. IA, after making sure the others were a safe distance away, took a step back and dropped the debris. The puppy licked the tip of Yuki's nose, perhaps as his way of saying "thank you."

 

"Are you alright? Did you get hurt?" "No, I'm fine, but the puppy is happy now," Yuki told when she sat up while holding the corgi in her arms. IA picked the small dog up and held him in her arms.

 

"Hey, buddy, where did you come from? Where are your owners? They're probably out looking for you." IA questioned when the dog's ears drooped down and began to whimper again. The light blonde figured that his owners were missing just like everyone else in Gingertown. She took a look at his dog tag on his light blue collar.

 

It read: _Melody._

 

"Your name's Melody, huh? Sounds like a girl's name, but I honestly don't give a crap about that." IA smiled when she pulled the little dog into a hug. "I'll have my grandmother treat your leg and you'll be a-okay again, 'kay?"

 

Suddenly, Melody's head shot up as he glared at the alleyway, and began to growl. "Hey, what's the matter? You see something?" IA questioned when she looked over to the alleyway as well while Yuki held onto her leg.

 

Then, they heard a blood curdling male scream from a block over, sending a startling chill down their spines. "We should get back to the house, whatever's over there will probably come after us next," IA warned when she carried Melody over her shoulder while she held onto one of Yuki's hands and ran back to the house.

 

What the three had yet to notice was a pair of light red eyes watching them from the darkness of the alley.

 

* * *

 

 

On the outskirts of Gingertown, the same place where Officer Meiko was previously at, Trunks, Gohan, Anon, and Kanon made it to where they heard the police force discovered the old Time Machine.

 

Since the twins didn't know how to fly, the boys carried them over. "Well, it looks...uh...lovely. Don't you think so guys?" Kanon broke the silence. Trunks scratched the back of his head, Gohan rose an eyebrow, and Anon shrugged.

 

Just then, Bulma arrived on the scene. "Trunks, it's your beautiful mother!" The light blue haired woman called out as she landed her aircraft in a non-crowded area. "Alright, everyone is accounted for," Anon said when she looked over to the lavender haired boy.

 

He took the capsule his own Time Machine was stored in out of his metal case, pushed the button on the top, and threw it a meter away from where he, the others, and the other time machine stood. When it hit the ground, the machine appeared in a cloud of smoke.

 

"It's weird how someone could fit that whole thing into something so tiny," Kanon noted as she placed her index finger and thumb under her chin. "Right," Trunks began as he walked towards the two Time Machines.

 

"The Time Machine on the right is the one I came back in." "So the one on the left can't be yours then," Bulma commented, scratching her cheek with her pinky-finger.

 

"Well, it is mine, but I don't remember you making another Time Machine in the future." Trunks explained when he approached the old time machine and wiped some of the moss off with his hand.

 

There appeared a single word, a single syllable, written on the side.

 

_Hope!_

 

"Look, it even has the same writing on the side just like your other time machine." Gohan pointed out.

 

Anon studied the machine's long legs and found that the moss didn't cover completely yet. "According to how much the moss had covered this thing already, I'd say it's between 3 to 4 years old." She examined.

 

"Where'd you learn that?" Bulma asked as she looked over to Anon, "I was hoping to get a job as an archaeologist when I finish college." Anon answered. "Is there an accurate answer for that?" Kanon questioned when she stood by her twin sister's side.

 

"I'm not too sure if I could answer that. I'm going to need more evidence. Hey Gohan, did you find anything up there?" She called to the Half-Saiyan as he hovered just over the glass dome that covered the inside of the Time Machine. "Maybe, look at the hole in the glass! It looks like it's been melted by a high energy source from the inside."

 

Suddenly, Gohan found a mysterious purple object sitting in the driver's seat. "Hey look what I found!" The young boy flew through the hole to grab the object and flew out.

 

What he grabbed, however, looked that of a large purple coconut shell with bumpy sides.

 

He handed the strange object to Bulma. "Whoa, I wanna see what you got!" Kanon shouted in excitement when she ran to Bulma's side. "Good thing it's dry." The light blue haired woman sighed in relief as she traced her fingers in the inside of the strange object.

 

"Besides the bumps, the sides are too thin to be that of a regular coconut shell. I would have to guess that this is an egg shell." "An egg?" Kanon gasped. "I wonder what hatched out of there!" Gohan added.

 

As the four investigated the egg shell, Trunks opened the dome of the time machine and flew inside.

 

_Looks like there's enough juice in this thing to check what time it came from._

 

When he managed to turn the Time Machine on and took a look at the gauge, though, he stared at it in horror.

 

"Guys!" Trunks shouted to the quartet's attention towards him. "What did you find, son?" Bulma asked when she looked up at him.

 

The lavender haired boy poked his head out of the Time Machine. "This Time Machine came from Age 788, and it arrived four years ago!" Anon stared at him with wide eye while Kanon rose an eyebrow.

 

* * *

 

 

Today had to be the worst morning for Meiko.

 

After coming back to town from her long investigation, which she found to be very boring, her team of policemen, that went home before her, disappeared on the streets, as did everyone else in Gingertown.

 

She found police uniforms on the road in front of the police station. The brunette also found many bullets on the ground.

 

_What happened to my men when I was gone?_

 

Just then, she had thought of a worst case scenario she could wish to never happen, whoever attacked must have killed everyone in the police station, even her boss, The Chief.

 

So she rushed up the steps and ran into the building to try to prove her fears wrong.

 

When she entered, though, Meiko nearly fainted at the sight in front of her.

 

Her coworkers' clothing were on the polished floor, desks, and benches. She even found the accused criminals' clothing on the floor.

 

When she saw the chief's office door halfway opened, Meiko bolted across the large room and yanked the door open wide open.

 

Her eyes widened at the sight before her, her boss's oversized shirt had covered the leather office chair.

 

"Oh God, not you too..." She said silently when she approached the desk and fell to her knees, giving herself some time to comprehend the situation.

 

_First my team, then the entirety of Gingertown, and now the Chief? Oh God, what do you want me to do now?_

 

She rested her head on the desk in defeat, just hoping her situation here could change for the better.

 

She smelled the French Vanilla coffee her boss always liked to order from the nearest coffee shop. It was full, that meant that he didn't drink it yet. She felt the sides of the cup and felt that it was still warm.

 

_This incident happened very recently then. There must be survivors out there, but that also means that someone one who caused all of this is still out there somewhere. This is obviously a code red situation, so I must arm myself with the best weapons we have._

 

* * *

 

 

"There you are!" Ayako said happily when she finished wrapping a white bandage around Melody's damaged leg to prevent it from bleeding.

 

"He is such an adorable little pup, isn't he?" She asked when IA took the corgi into her arms of embrace and swung him around the room.

 

"Mrs. Aozora, I don't think it's a good idea to keep an animal in the house," Kiyoteru told suddenly when Yuki shot up.

 

"Why not, Daddy?" She whined.

 

"With our budget, sweety, it will cost a lot of Zeni to take care of a dog. We will have to buy him food, some chew toys, shots, and our landlord is allergic to dogs."

 

IA gave the older man a doubtful look.

 

She placed Melody on the couch beside Yuki, walked towards the living room window, and pulled open the curtains. The window gave the family a good view of the street, which had the clothes lying on the road.

 

"What the hell is going out there?" Hayato questioned when he stared at the window with a look of concern. "Okay, apparently everybody disappeared without their clothing. I took some pictures so we'd show it to someone who, hopefully, is from outside of town. Then we heard some guy screaming in pain from a block away." Just as IA explained the situation, the family heard glass breaking.

 

"That came from the kitchen!" Ayako informed nervously, staring at the hallway with fear.

 

"I think a robber broke in, during morning hours?" Kiyoteru added.

 

"Everyone upstairs, now!" Hayato called when he and the others ran out through the other exit and climbed the flight of stairs. "Why, so the intruder could corner us?" Kiyoteru complained. "No, I have a surprise gift for our visitor, and believe me, it will be a blast."

 

This was the first time IA saw her grandfather smile in a while, he usually does this when things get crazy in an emergency.

 

Unknown to them, the intruder watched them run up the stairs while hiding behind a wall.

 

 

 


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, the mystery of the disappearing people, the old Time Machine, and strange yet frightening power level all seems to link to one dangerous creature.

At the Kame House owned by Master Roshi, Goku and Krillin's former teacher, Chi-Chi watched over her husband, who is bedridden.

 

Krillin, Yamcha, Roshi, Oolong, and Puar sat in the living room flipping through the channels of the television to find a show they would be interested in watching.

 

"Gosh Krillin, do you think there are any good shows on? I'm bored..." Yamcha complained when he rests his head on the palm of his hands. "There's not a lot of channels on here, but they don't seem to have anything interesting on at the moment," Krillin replied as he stared at the TV switching from channel to channel.

 

That was until something caught the short fighter's eye on the News Channel. He and the others noticed that the camera sideways, and a few pieces of clothing on the ground, some belonging to a field reporter.

 

"Huh? What...what in the world happened to everyone?" Krillin questioned nervously when he looked over to the group on the couch. Roshi and Yamcha shrugged, while Puar scratched his head.

 

"Beats me! I've seen a lot of weird things in my lifetime. It's probably just Nude Day in Gingertown." Oolong said as he scratched behind his large ear.

 

_And when it's Nude Day, I could grab all the panties I want. Heheheheh!_

 

Roshi sat closer to the TV and studied the scene until he saw the town's name on a billboard.

 

"Gingertown? Say, isn't that where Bulma and the others are right now?" The old Master questioned when he glanced over to Krillin. "Bulma did say they were gonna check out a weird object around there," Krillin answered when the men heard the screen door open to see a trio of people walk in.

 

It was Tien, Chiaotzu, and Launch.

 

"Whoa! Hey, Launch, no time no see, huh?" Krillin stared at the trio with a nervous look on his head when he scratched the back of his head.

 

"Hey Krillin, it's good to see you guys again." Launch waved happily when she walked towards the group on the couch.

 

She had long, dark blue poofy hair with a red bow tied into it, as always. This time, she wore a leather jacket, a green tube top, a pair of ripped light blue jeans, and light brown leather boots that reach up just below her kneecaps.

 

Tien approached the group as well. "I'm very sorry I'm late. How's Goku feeling?" The Triclops asked.

 

"Better than yesterday, that's for sure," Yamcha answered when he glanced up at him.

 

"That's good. I had to check up on Chiaotzu and Launch to see if they were alright. But while I was on my way home, I felt a strange power level coming from a bunch of people in one exact location." Tien explained to everyone when he sat at the kitchen table.

 

"Different people in one place, that's strange." Roshi sat up to comment, then fixed the positioning of his sunglasses.

 

"Yeah, and it felt evil too. I didn't know what to do, so I took Launch and Chiaotzu as far away from that area as possible."

 

"Did you remember where the energy source was? And how in the world did you feel different in one exact spot?" Krillin questioned when he climbed onto the couch in between Roshi and Oolong.

 

"I don't remember exactly. Just north of West City maybe? And by different people, I mean like you guys, Vegeta, Piccolo, and even Goku, Frieza, and his dad. In one exact place. It felt so powerful and-" Tien looked over to Yamcha shifting his eyes towards him and the TV. "What's the matter?" The three eyed fighter questioned.

 

"Something bad happened in Gingertown! There's like clothing everywhere on the ground, and even the field reporter is gone. Could that be the energy you felt?" Yamcha explained.

 

"Whoa wait a minute, did you say you felt Goku and Frieza's energies? In one place? Last time I checked, Goku's upstairs sleeping, and Trunks beat the living crap out of Frieza and his Dad. Wait, in that case, we're in deep trouble! Never thought we'd deal with Zombies. This might be a bigger deal than the Androids." Krillin panicked.

 

Suddenly, Launch took a deep breath and pointed a finger to the ceiling. "Let's not jump to conclusions, alright?"

 

The group on the couch looked over to her in awe.

 

"Launch is right, we can't really determine whether or not this thing is more dangerous than the Androids without seeing them for ourselves and find out what their intentions are. Not that I agree because she has a nice rack, but it's common sense." Roshi said when he felt Krillin lean towards him with a look of doubt on his face.

 

"Thanks for the advice Master, but don't you remember what happens when Launch sneezes?" He whispered when Roshi shot away from him and fell off of the couch when the memories of the adventures with Launch came back to him.

 

* * *

 

 

A tall, green creature began to tread up the flight of stairs slowly, following the family to find out where they were hiding.

 

His slit eyes shifted around the hallway, observing his surroundings carefully before making his next move.

 

Meanwhile, Hayato, Ayako, and Kiyoteru hid in the bedroom. The old man held onto his rifle. His wife held a metal pipe in her hands while Kiyoteru held onto a baseball bat. IA, Yuki, and Melody hid inside a closet in the hallway. As the creature's footsteps drew near, Yuki held onto IA for dear life while IA held onto Melody.

 

When the elders and the adult heard the sound of creature's metallic-like footsteps reach the second floor, Hayato punched the wall, producing a loud sound that made even Kiyoteru jump.

 

The latter began to panic when he remembered they had an intruder in the house. The creature looked over to the source of the sound and began to slowly walk towards it.

 

IA knew it was the signal to get themselves out of the closet and fast before the creature notices. She gently pushed the closet door of the closet and the two girls tiptoed towards the stairs. Just as Melody began to growl at the humanoid creature, the light blonde girl grabbed onto his snout to keep him quiet and climbed down the stairs.

 

Unfortunately for the girls and dog, the creature stopped in his tracks to not only hear the dog's growl, but he could also hear the girls' footsteps as well.

 

He turned around to see a hint of IA's hair as she began to walk down the stairs.

 

He grinned.

 

"Why did they stop?" Ayako whispered a question into her husband's ear. "Something's wrong..." Hayato replied with a hint of fear in his voice.

 

Just as IA and Yuki made it to the bottom of the stairs, the creature began to laugh when he stood at the top of the stairs in a menacing manner. A chill went down IA's spine when she and Yuki looked up at the creature upstairs.

 

"Do you honestly think you can get away so easily? By running away when I'm not looking, you're only providing a challenge for me." The creature chuckled.

 

IA's eyes widened at the sound of his voice, "This has to be some kind of sick joke! Bugs don't talk!" She tried to reassure herself as she held onto Melody tightly when he began to bark at the creature.

 

"No jokes here, sweetheart." The creature told when he saw IA raise her eyebrows at his cringe-worthy comment.

 

"By the way, if I can't talk, neither can the King of the World! But enough about this nonsense! Now, which one of you shall I eat first? How about the girl with the pigtails?" Yuki immediately grabbed onto IA's waist when she saw the creature lift up his tail. The end had a sharp beige colored stinger, which made IA rub her throat nervously.

 

So that's what made the holes in the clothing! If I could get a clear shot at this guy, I can take a picture and show it to someone.

 

Suddenly, Hayato pointed the end of his rifle behind the creature's head.

 

"If you go near those girls, I'll shoot your brains out and gut you like a fish."

 

The creature only chuckled, "Not if I do so to you first, old man." With that said, the tall creature spun around once and slapped Hayato with his tail, making the latter fly towards the wall.

 

"Grandpa!" IA shouted in fear when she saw what had happened. Then, Ayako and Kiyoteru charged at the creature with their weapons and began to attack him with them.

 

However, no matter how many times he was hit by them, he wasn't fazed at all. He used his tail to strike Ayako by her side, making her fall over the railing near the stairs.

 

The light blonde gasped sharply when she saw her grandmother fall over the side, and ran under her to catch her. When she did, though, she used her body as a cushion so Ayako could land onto the first floor safely.

 

After hitting the floor, IA commented, "C'mon! I should've felt that one!"

 

Kiyoteru was horrified when he witnessed the old woman fall over the railing, and then sighed in relief when he saw that she landed safely, thanks to IA.

 

He went back to what he was doing before and swung the bat at the creature. The humanoid creature caught the baseball bat with only one hand, leaving the young man in a state of shock.

 

Finally, the creature crushed the bat in his hand before it broke into wood chips. Kiyoteru began to panic and made an attempt to run away, but the creature caught him by the neck of his suit jacket.

 

"Someone help!" Kiyoteru cried out as he struggled to escape his grasp. "You know what, since I like struggling prey, I'll eat you first instead." The creature chuckled lowly when he licked the lips of his beak.

 

The dark brown haired man's eyes widened like a bug when he saw this and screamed, "HELP!!!"

 

After leaving Ayako with Yuki and Melody, IA marched up the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her, and ran at the creature. She used the weight of her body to knock the tall creature forward towards the floor and thus making him release the man.

 

The creature looked up at the girl with a confused look in his eyes. IA, however, looked at him with immediate regret, wishing she hadn't pushed him down.

 

She turned to help her friend and grandfather onto their feet.

 

_How did she...never mind..._

 

The creature thought to himself when he ran at the trio and swung his tail at their direction. Kiyoteru screamed as he grabbed Hayato and ran down the stairs, while IA dodged the attack.

 

"Impressive strength, girl! But you'll soon learn who you are about to face!" The creature yelled when the girl looked up at him.

 

He threw a punch at her, in which she ducked and made him punch the wall instead. She kicked him in the shin and rolled out of the way before the creature could fall on her.

 

When IA stood up, the creature wrapped his tail around her neck, putting her in a choke hold.

 

Horrified, Hayato ran back upstairs, grabbed his rifle, and struck the creature in the face by swinging the butt of his gun. The creature crashed into the wall, resulting in Hayato's gun snapping in half.

 

IA rubbed her neck, "Crap, that guy is smarter than I thought."

 

"Aria, what were you thinking? That thing could've killed you on the spot." The old man worried as he grabbed his granddaughter's wrist and yanked her onto her feet.

 

"I'm really sorry Grandpa." "We have no time for apologies. We have to get out of here before we get killed by that...that thing!" He stuttered as the three ran down the stairs.

 

"Everyone, grab all the food we need and pack them in the back of the hover van before that creature wakes back up," Hayato ordered as the family grabbed every food they had.

 

The creature climbed out of the wreckage of the wall and shook his head to throw the dust off of him. He didn't want to chase after the family right away, as he wanted to give them a good chase before going back to finding the other survivors.

 

Aria huh? Well, my dear, it's about time fate brought us both together again.

 

* * *

 

 

Rocks continued to fly towards the strange energy source, all the while keeping herself out of sight from either the Z-Fighters, Piccolo, or Vegeta.

 

She was halfway there, towards Gingertown when she detected new power sources on her scanner. Rocks landed onto the grass floor and began to walk, searching around the woods for the energy source. She stopped in her tracks when she heard voices up ahead.

 

She ran the rest of the way until she saw a clearing, and hid in the bushes to watch a few familiar figures from afar.

 

The group from below the hill were investigating the mysterious Time Machine.

 

She definitely remembered Anon and Kanon from yesterday's skirmish on the highway. The android girl couldn't help but chuckle when she remembered what she did to them in the fight. But when she turned to find Trunks walking towards the time machine with the moss, she lied her head low to avoid being spotted, as she remembered him being a dangerous opponent.

 

Trunks crouched down onto his knees to rub off the moss covering a button that reduces the time machine into a capsule. Gohan did the same with the newer version.

 

"Hey Trunks," Bulma called out when he, Gohan, and the twins turned their attention towards her. "I forgot to ask, but how's your dad feeling? I heard the Androids beat him down badly."

 

"He's feeling better now because of the Senzu beans. But he doesn't want to help us out." Trunks explained when Kanon crossed her arms and frowned. "Huh, figures..."

 

Suddenly, Gohan looked over to a clear path and found an interesting object that caught his eye. So he walked in between Trunks and Bulma.

 

"Yo Gohan, where are you going? Your Mom will be mad if we don't know where you were." Anon questioned in a sing-song manner as she ran after him.

 

The other three looked at the young boy in confusion. "Yeah Gohan, let us in on it." Bulma insisted. "I found something down this hill." The half-Saiyan told as he and Anon walked over to the object while the other three followed.

 

Rocks was curious as well to see what the boy had found, so she began to tread through the bushes to follow him.

 

Suddenly, Gohan stopped where he was going and found the object through a small bush.

 

The object looked something like a dead overgrown bug. Trunks stared at it in horror, Bulma screamed at the mere sight of it, Kanon scrunched up her nose in disgust, and Anon covered her mouth to prevent herself from vomiting.

 

Rocks, however, was interested in what they had found.

 

"What the crap is that?!" Kanon questioned nervously when she stood beside Gohan to get a better look at the dead creature. "It looks dead," Anon stated when she took Kanon's sword off of her back. "Oy lay off my stuff," Kanon shouted in annoyance when her sister used the blade to poke at it. It didn't move, not even in the slightest. "Yup, it's dead."

 

"Hey wait a minute," Gohan told when he ran towards the creature. "It feels hollow. It's not dead at all, it's some sort of shed skin." "Shed skin, huh? That's weird, I don't remember watching nature documentaries on cicada bugs getting this big." Bulma commented when she too walked towards the shed skin.

 

"That's because it's not a cicada." Trunks stated. "Wha? Pretty damn sure this is a cicada bug. An overgrown one that escaped some sort of lab, that is." Anon countered.

 

"Well whatever it is, it must've come from that egg." "Well, that makes sense. I think..." Kanon noted as she climbed out of the bushes as well.

 

"I wonder what shed its skin." The teal haired woman pondered as she scratched the hair under her cap. "I wonder who sent this thing back. That's what I really want to know." Trunks wondered when he reached into the skin.

 

Suddenly, he felt something sticky and immediately threw his hand out of there in disgust. Light purple colored goop ran down his hands and fingers. "Gross!" The twins said in unison.

 

"Uh huh..." Bulma studied the goop on her future son's hand. "Well whatever shed its skin, probably had done so recently." She hypothesized when she dug into her jacket pocket for a handkerchief.

 

Rocks watched with a look of wonder. That was until she saw the similarities with the shed skin, and the embryo being produced in Dr. Gero's basement.

 

_Cell is here?! What the Hell?! He wasn't supposed to be done until another 19 years or so._

 

Rocks thought to herself when another realization hit her.

 

That must have been him who I have detected earlier. He's probably in Gingertown!

 

With that thought, the android girl backed away from the bushes, and ran for her life, not caring if she made any noise or not.

 

Suddenly, the five heard the sound of a twig snapping, making them jump in surprise. Kanon snatched the sword back and held it while Anon hid behind her. "What was that?" Gohan questioned when he looked around. "Well whatever it was, it looks like we're not the only ones here." Trunks predicted.

 

"Oh look at the time, it looks like I need to get back to Little Trunks," Bulma told when she began to walk back to her aircraft. "Alright, we'll be at the Kame House if you need us!" Gohan shouted when he waved to her. "I will! Also, Gohan? Tell your Mom I said 'hi!'" Bulma waved back when she climbed inside her flying vehicle.

 

* * *

 

 

After the family got everything and everyone into the van, they drove right out of the garage and out onto the empty streets, leaving their home, and hopefully that monster, behind.

 

Kiyoteru drove the hover van with Hayato in the passenger seat, while Ayako and IA sat in the middle, and Yuki and Melody sat in the back. They drove, and drove, and drove down the main road without anyone uttering a single word.

 

But their peace and quiet were short lived when they suddenly heard loud metallic footsteps from behind them.

 

Yuki and Melody turned to look behind for the source of the noise, only to the young girl's horror that she found the green creature running after them.

 

Once again, Melody growled and barked at the creature. IA turned to see what her dog was barking at and gasped when she saw the creature as well.

 

"That guy just doesn't give up, does he?" Hayato questioned himself.

 

IA unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed into the back seat. "Yuki, you can have my seat. Who knows what this guy is up to?" She sat down and unbuckled Yuki's seat belt, letting her climb to the middle seats.

 

Just then, the creature slammed his tail against the back window, breaking the glass. IA grabbed Melody and ducked before the glass could shatter.

 

"What happened?!" Hayato turned to see what went on, only to find his granddaughter covered in shattered glass. "That bug guy is still chasing us!"

 

"Kiyoteru, you need to drive faster! There are no people on the road!" The old man shook the younger man's shoulder roughly. "I can't! I'm giving everything she's got!" Kiyoteru told when Hayato stared at him with a look of horror in his eyes.

 

Hearing the two men up in the front, IA gave herself what she thought was the craziest idea she had come up with. She looked at the hover van's sunroof and got up to her feet.

 

Luckily for her, the sunroof was big enough for her to climb through.

 

Hayato looked over to find her climbing through the roof. "Aria! What the Hell are you doing?!" The grandfather shouted in worry. "I need to find a way to get this guy off our tracks. I'll catch up to you later!" The light blonde girl told as she stood on the arm holders.

 

"IA! Are you crazy?! You're gonna get yourself killed!" Kiyoteru shouted in surprise when she finally climbed out.

 

IA made sure she had good balance before she stood up. She ran off of the hover van and took the creature by surprise by kicking him in the face.

 


	9. Chapter 8: The Truth is Out, The Chase is On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Cell, the creature responsible for attacking IA's family and the disappearance of Gingertown's citizens, might know something about IA that she didn't know herself. Before he could attack, Officer Meiko saved her life, and the two frantically try a way to get out of Gingertown as Cell pursues them.

“So, you've come around at long last, huh?” Piccolo mocked as he crossed his arms and smirked. “It looks like you saw some monster.”

  
  


“There is no time for foolishness, young one!” Kami retorted as he turned to look at him with a worried expression on his face. “We cannot allow any more innocent people on Earth to be killed in cold blood," Piccolo then grunted before thinking of an idea out loud. "My body will be our base, got it?"

  
  


"That's fine, you're much younger and stronger. I'll only provide you with a boost of power, and a much broader vision." Kami explained.

  
  


The older Namekian handed his staff over to Mr. Popo. "Kami...please...you don't have to..." "Earth does not need a God to watch over it. It needs a warrior to protect it."

  
  


The three stood in utter silence, the two Namekians thinking over their decisions.

  
  


Kami stood still until he looked back up at Piccolo, "Now Piccolo since you're going to be the base, you must place your hand on my chest." Piccolo did as the elder told.

  
  


The latter took a deep breath before speaking his final goodbye. "You have changed, Piccolo. Your evil heart has all but disappeared. There is a possibility that we will not split apart again after we rejoin."

  
  


Kami turned to look at Mr. Popo and smiled, "Mr. Popo, thank you for everything." The small man gasped as he watched the Namekian in front of him scream at the top of his lungs, calling upon the power to begin the fusion. Piccolo stared at the elder with wide eyes as he began to disappear from under the palm of his hand, his very being flowing into him as if he were a ghost.

  
  


The next thing Piccolo knew, he couldn't feel anything, but a whole new power coursing through his veins.

  
  


Everything came to an utter silence, as Mr. Popo stared at him in fear while struggling to get his words out.

  
  


As the Namekian looked at his hands, Mr. Popo said, "Kami...please be careful out there."

  
  


Piccolo looked over to the short man. "I'm no longer Kami, nor Piccolo. Only a Namekian whose name has been long forgotten."

  
  


He walked to the edge of the Lookout and looked back at Mr. Popo with a smile. "I'll be back."

  
  


With that said, he took a leap of faith off of the edge and flew off into the distance.

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


IA was lying on the hard ground after she kicked the creature in the face.

  
  


_First, a genocide happens, then some mutant bug-guy shows up and tried to kill us. Now I'm alone with him. I honestly need to rethink my decisions._

  
  


After the light blonde had some thoughts to herself, she heard the creature's metallic-like footsteps coming closer to her. She peered up at him and got herself onto her feet quickly.

  
  


“You had the nerve to kick me like that. You are aware that I can actually kill you, right?” The creature told when he stopped in his tracks and crossed his arms.

  
  


“I had to do _something_. I wasn't gonna let you hurt my family without a fight.” IA retorted when the creature let out a short chuckle that mocked her.

  
  


“Do you honestly think I'm going to fight someone of your stature?”

  
  


“You put me in a choke-hold! With your tail!”

  
  


“Anymore of your yelling, and I'll soon put you through another one.”

  
  


“Who exactly are you? Why are you here? There must be a reason why everybody's gone, and why you decided to hurt my family!” IA interrogated, hoping to quickly change the subject before her situation gets worse.

  
  


“I'm glad you asked.” the creature told when the light blonde rose an eyebrow in confusion.

  
  


_Well, that worked!_

  
  


“Normally I don't let my food know my name, but I reckon you wouldn't live any while longer to remember it.”

  
  


_Why did he say food? Is he a cannibal?! Shut up, me, he's saying his name!_

  
  


“My name is Cell. I take it you're Aria Aozora, the daughter of Dr. Gero's lab assistant, Iru Aozora.” The creature spoke out.

  
  


“Hey, that's _IA_ to you! EE-YAH!” IA corrected, and then she remembered he mentioned her late father's name.

  
  


“Wait, huh? How do you know my Dad's name? How did you know he worked for _that_ old geezer?”

  
  


“Oh, so many questions for one so young.” Cell noted.

  
  


Meanwhile, Rocks had finally arrived in Gingertown.

  
  


She landed on the roof of an apartment building and took note of the abandoned town below her. She found it weird how there were so many clothing scattered along the streets, and she knew this was not a normal event the citizens did.

  
  


Rocks also felt the power she detected earlier growing so strong, she could feel it in her cords.

  
  


When she looked over to the edge of the building, however, she spotted a tall creature clad in green. He looked dangerous, she had to keep herself out of sight. So she lied on her stomach and watched the creature.

  
  


_That's Cell? He looks uglier than I thought he'd turn out._

  
  


She then looked over to a girl that stood in his way.

  
  


Her widened eyes stopped at the girl as she studied her appearance. Blonde hair, blue eyes, black neckband, and bandaged hands and wrists.

  
  


_That girl! She looks exactly like me! Is that the girl I've wanted to meet my entire life?_

  
  


Rocks knew this girl was in danger knowing she was standing in Cell's way. What scared her the most about this creature was the fact that he had a very large power level, yet she didn't know what this creature was capable of.

  
  


She had to save this girl before Cell decides to kill her.

  
  


Suddenly, she detected another power level, this time it was en route to Gingertown.

  
  


_Probably one of those Z-Fighters! I gotta act quickly!_

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


Around the same time, Meiko walked around town cautiously in hopes of avoiding a possible ambush. She was looking around for the person who murdered everyone at her Police Station all day with no luck.

  
  


Just then, she heard a voice coming from the next block over.

  
  


Curious, she ran to an alley and snuck to the end to see who was talking.

  
  


_A survivor? A police force from the next town over? The murderer?_

  
  


She only found a girl with blonde hair and a blue sweater standing in front of a strange and dangerous inhuman creature.

  
  


_Does that girl know not to talk to strangers? Especially those that look like they were born from a nightmare?_

  
  


When she studied the girl, she remembered the description of the young college girl that had beaten the three criminal men yesterday.

  
  


_She must be her! That guy looks tough, though! If he was able to kill everyone in Gingertown, including my team, then she's not going to last long. I was hoping I'd get a shot at the action and actually save someone._

  
  


Meiko, however, didn't shoot the creature unless he attacked the girl.

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


As he was flying, Piccolo could pick up various power levels, making him stop for a moment to comprehend who it belonged to. He felt so confused.

  
  


_What's going on? Why do I feel Goku and Frieza, and even myself, in Gingertown? Goku's at Master Roshi's place and Trunks killed Frieza! I feel another power level, but it feels dim. It belongs to that of a female, and she's in danger!_

  
  


With that thought, Piccolo hurried quickly to Gingertown.

  
  


* * *

 

  
  


“So let me get this straight, your name is Cell, you're a lab baby Bio-Android of Dr. Gero, you know my Dad because Doc often talks about him and you looked at some papers. That doesn't explain why you care so much. If you don't answer me right now, I'm leaving. Peace!” The blonde girl told in an annoyed tone in her voice when she turned to leave.

  
  


Suddenly, Cell reached down to grab her arm, causing her to panic and struggle against his grip on her. “What if I told you that I know something from that car accident that you do not?”

  
  


IA stopped struggling and looked up at the creature with a doubtful look in her eyes.

  
  


_Right, a lab bug knows a lot more about me than my own grandparents._

  
  


“That tragedy that claimed your family was no accident, but a plot to put you out of your misery.”

  
  


When Cell had said what he had to say, the girl stared at him in horror.

  
  


Meiko, after hearing this, had a horrible chill run down her spine, and held up her sniper rifle, aiming for Cell's head.

  
  


Rocks was horrified and covered her mouth to hold in a gasp.

  
  


_Wait, if this is true, then that means..._

  
  


Before IA could finish her train of thought, she heard a gun go off. The next thing she knew, Cell let out a yelp of pain, letting go of his grip on the girl.

  
  


As she stepped away from the creature, she tripped backward onto the hard ground.

  
  


She noticed that there was a gash on Cell's cheek, which started bleed purple blood. Whoever shot him had good aim.

  
  


Before getting up, she used the camera to take a quick picture of Cell and jumped up to her feet. She looked back, only to find Officer Meiko behind her, aiming a pistol at their adversary.

  
  


“I got him distracted, come with me if you don't wanna die!” Meiko ordered when she took the younger girl's hand and ran for their lives.

  
  


“Unless if help comes or if either of us have any ideas, I don't think we can outrun him!” Meiko told as the two ran through the streets. “Yeah, no doubt! He caught up to my friend's hovercar and broke the back window. I think I can hear him now!” noted IA when she and the policewoman heard metallic-like footsteps getting closer to them.

  
  


IA looked up ahead to find an alley full of wooden crates.

  
  


“Officer! We can lose that guy with that shortcut, I use it to get away from bullies and it works every time.” the light blonde explained when said Officer nodded. “Lead the way, kid.”

  
  


She let go of IA's hand to let her lead them both through the shortcut. It was an alley filled with wooden crates with a metal fence put up in the middle. She climbed on the crates like stairs and jumped over the fence. Meiko did the same.

  
  


Cell looked over to the alley to spot the woman and girl on the other side of the fence. But as he was about to go after them, he was shot in the back by a mysterious ki blast and made him fall forward.

  
  


After making that blast, Rocks hid behind a garbage can, hopefully, to make her getaway before Cell sees what she had done.

  
  


As soon as the Android got up to his feet, IA and Meiko were out of sight. But this didn't stop him from going down the direction they went down to.

  
  


“Kid! This is the town's dump.” Meiko noted as she observed the mountains of garbage all around the area. “I know, it's easy to lose people here. Did you hear that crashing noise a bit back? He might've tripped and fallen.” IA pointed out while glancing at the path from which they came from.

  
  


Meiko turned her head sharply at a new sound. The sound of metal wires tearing apart. Cell ripped the fence down.

  
  


“No time to talk, kid. That mutant bug man is coming for us and my pistol could hold so many bullets at a time. C'mon, this way.” The brunette warned when she took the younger girl's hand and ran through the town dump.

  
  


Cell pursued them, and Rocks followed him in secrecy.

  
  


In an attempt to slow him down once again, Rocks pushed a pile of garbage in his path, blocking it. She hid behind another pile of junk and disappeared again.

  
  


“I swear on Dr. Gero's grave, if I ever catch the one who has been slowing me down, I will give them a slow and painful death by slitting their throat and drain their energy from it.” Cell's threat made the Android girl's spine shiver as she rubbed her neck anxiously.

  
  


_Well, now I know how the people died without clothing!_

  
  


Cell looked up at another pile of garbage, in which it led to another path, hopefully, to catch up to the two survivors.

  
  


Meanwhile, Meiko and IA made their way out of the town dump and onto another street. “We're almost out of here, kid.” the brunette policewoman told with a smile, when IA smiled along with her, knowing that very soon she will be reunited with her family without putting them in danger.

  
  


Just then, the woman and girl quickly looked over to the end of the street right from them at a noise and stared in anxiety when they saw Cell appear.

  
  


“Oh, please don't turn left.” IA wished as she and Meiko stared in horror.

  
  


But as IA feared, Cell turned his attention to the street on the left to spot the two females and ran after them.

  
  


“It's now or never!” Meiko told when she took out her pistol and began to shot at the Bio-Android. Cell became annoyed when felt the policewoman's pistol bullets bounce off his armour-like exoskeleton.

  
  


“They're bouncing off of him!” IA noted when Meiko stopped shooting at the humanoid creature. “C'mon!” Meiko shouted when she took IA's hand again and ran for their lives once again.

  
  


They turned right, only to find themselves stopping at a brick wall with a window.

  
  


A dead end.

  
  


IA looked back at the way they came in horror as she heard Cell approaching.

  
  


“Quick, into the window!” Meiko ordered when she jumped up to reach it. “But Officer Meiko! It's too high, we're not gonna escape in time!” IA told as she observed the positioning of the window.

  
  


“Kid! Stop doubting! This could be our only way out! We tried to outrun him, but looking at us now, it was utter garbage! He's too fast and too smart! If you stop putting yourself down, then things will turn out good for you and done at a quicker pace! Don't be afraid to try, because a coward's way out will only lead you into more trouble than already conceived! Now c'mon, we don't have much time!”

  
  


After hearing the policewoman's inspiring speech, IA nodded and ran at the wall with the window.

  
  


As Cell entered the alley, they struggled to get a grip on the window and eventually fell backward onto the cold hard ground.

  
  


“There's nowhere to run, Aria!” Cell mocked as he let out a creepy smirk the lips on his beak mouth could make.

  
  


“Kid, you know this guy? Is that why you were chatting with him earlier?” Meiko questioned when she helped IA and herself onto their feet. She grabbed for her pistol and aimed it at the Bio-Android.

  
  


“Of course I don't, but apparently he knows me better than my own grandparents. I don't see why he'd care so much about me, or else he would've killed me where I stood.” IA answered when the two stood against the wall while Cell stopped in his tracks.

  
  


“So he's a mutant bug guy and a violent stalker, who might have an agenda. Well, that's just great!” Meiko groaned in annoyance when she aimed the gun at Cell again.

  
  


She shot only a single bullet at him, hopefully, to hit his head again.

  
  


This time, however, Cell caught the bullet with only a single hand, as if he was an umpire who caught a baseball.

  
  


Flabbergasted, the two stared at the creature in both wonder and horror.

  
  


“What the hell?!” Meiko shouted when she aimed her pistol at him again, but this time, no bullets fired.

  
  


She ran out of ammo.

  
  


“Well, your luck seems to have run short. You two gave me a good chase and showed sportsmanship. For that, I'll give you a quick and painless death.” the Bio-Android offered.

  
  


“Kid, unless if you have any surprises that could save us both, we're goners.” The brunette stated.

  
  


An idea came to the light blonde's head when she looked at her camera.

  
  


_If I set my camera to flash, I could blind Cell and we can get out of here!_

  
  


She set the camera to flash as she planned to, and aimed the camera at Cell.

  
  


“Say cheese!” IA grinned as Cell looked at her in confusion. She clicked the capture button and a single flash of light sent Cell into a panic when he found he couldn't see a thing.

  
  


“I can't believe it! You flashed him!” Meiko said as she looked at the screaming Bio-Android in surprise.

  
  


“Hurry!” IA rushed past Cell, only to be thrown back at Meiko with a single whip of the bug man's tail, crashing into the brick wall behind them.

  
  


“Oh, that hurts! You alright, kid?” Meiko questioned when she rubbed the back of her head.

  
  


“I'm okay, thanks for asking.”

  
  


“Wha? How can you be okay when you got hit by a tail and thrown at a _brick_ wall, not to mention another person?”

  
  


“I don't feel pain. How else can I-”

  
  


IA was cut mid-sentence when the two heard Cell's laughter emitting in the alley. “You're only pushing your luck. You humans don't know when to give up, do you?”

  
  


Just as IA was about to throw a rock she found on the ground, Cell was suddenly kicked in the stomach and thrown back onto the ground by a tall figure in a white cape and turban.

  
  


He also had green skin and large pointed ears.

  
  


IA and Meiko watched this new figure in awe, while Cell glared at him in a mix of confusion and anger.

  
  


The green figure spoke, “So, you are the one I sense earlier. I see you wrecked havoc on this town and killed innocents.”

  
  


“So it seems, it's nice to see you, _Piccolo_.” The Bio-Android savoured the figure's name as if he were a friend or a family member of his, making IA and Meiko shake in fear. Even the figure stared at him with a hint of fear.

  
  


“How do you know to call me Piccolo?” Piccolo questioned as he studied the creature in front of him.

  
  


“Should I not know my brother?” Cell asked when the other shook in disgust, as did IA and Meiko.

  
  


Suddenly, the woman and girl each felt a hand grab for them by their blouse collar and hood respectively and pulled into the very window they tried to climb. Cell and Piccolo were too busy dealing with each other to notice.

  
  


“Ow, what the heck was that?” IA asked as she rubbed her hindquarters after landing in the building.

  
  


“Are you guys alright? That was some nasty chase there.” she heard a voice that was much like hers, only younger.

  
  


IA looked up to find a girl who had the same hair colour as her, only with pink streaks. She studied the clothing she wore, a black and white shirt with large cuts at the shoulders, a bright pink school skirt, asymmetrical black socks with a leg band, and pink and white boots.

  
  


This girl even had the same face structure as her.

  
  


IA couldn't believe what she and Meiko were looking at.

  
  


She was looking at a younger _her_ , the time she had a singing career.

  
  


“Are you two okay?” The girl asked again. “Uh, yeah. We're okay, just tired from running around all day.” IA answered when Meiko leaned against her ear.

  
  


“Hey kid, I didn't know you had a twin.” the brunette whispered. “Neither did I,” IA replied in the same volume of voice.

  
  


“I managed to help slow him down for you.”

  
  


“Thank you, Ms-”

  
  


“My name is Rocks. I would explain more about myself, and I understand if you're asking questions, but I feel quite a large power coming from Cell and Piccolo, and if we stay here any longer, we could get wiped out.” the girl explained as she took both IA and Meiko's hands and pulled them onto their feet.

  
  


“I saw a family with a blue hover van driving to the outskirts of town on my way here, do any of you know them?” Rocks questioned.

  
  


“Yeah! Those are my grandparents and family fri-” IA stopped talking when she spotted a familiar logo on Rocks's neckband.

  
  


It was that of The Red Ribbon Army.

  
  


IA stepped away from the duo with a fearful look in her blue eyes.

  
  


“You...how can I trust someone who is with _them_?” She asked when Rocks looked at her neckband and turned it around her neck until the logo is gone.

  
  


“I am very aware of what those guys did, and I didn't ask to be created.”

  
  


“Created? So you're a robot?” Meiko asked.

  
  


“90% Artificial and 10% Natural flavours, baby!” Rocks joked as she snapped her fingers and held both of her thumbs up.

  
  


“But in all seriousness, I'll get into my life story later. Right now, I'm your ally, and I will make sure that Cell does not go after your family, and hopefully teach you everything I know. Trust me on this, just because I was created by R.R.A, doesn't make them a friend of mine.” The Android girl explained when she held out her hand to IA.

  
  


_So far, Cell told me things about myself that I didn't even know, and now a girl that looks like a 15-year old me, who is also from the Red Ribbon Army, tells me that she knows why this is happening to my town and my family. Might as well go against my gut feeling this time. After all, she promised she'll protect my family from him._

  
  


IA made her decision the moment she took Rocks's hand when the latter lead the group out of the building they were in.

 

 


End file.
